Open roads aren’t exactly untrodden material to singer-songwriters, but for Hannah Read, interstate travel and headlight revelations remain her origins. Raised and based in the little town of Silsbee, just north of Beaumont, she began cultivating work under the moniker Lomelda during high school. On her first release for sensitive Brooklyn indie Double Double Whammy, Read’s personal poetry is presented in a refreshingly scaled scope, letting space and softness work where few modern artists do. Transitive topics of phone calls and disrupted connections fall in line with the singer’s ruminations on distance, both measurable and emotional. Sweeping standout “Out There” recalls her older brother’s untrue but mythical tale of meeting Elliott Smith, ending with a question for the canonized songwriter. Churning rides (“Bam Sha Klam,” “Nvr”) propel the 10-song collection’s expansiveness, for which Read’s rounded, delicately dulled tone is the perfect vehicle.
This article appears in October 20 • 2017.