Protest comes in many forms. Some pick up a pen, be it real or proverbial, and send strongly worded messages to their representatives. Others take to the streets, marching against what they deem immoral policies in hopes of pressuring their elected leaders to change them. And a few sit down, guitar in hand, and write songs that speak to the moment.
Christopher Hatfield, who’s recorded as Love Axe for more than a decade, kinda-sorta does the last on his latest long player, a subdued treatise he calls Optimism Paranoia Desperation Abolition. The press release quotes him as explaining its genesis: “I wrote this record as a way of processing and grieving all of the terrible things I learned about what humanity and this country are capable of during the first Trump administration. And I could only really do that because it was over with—I don’t think you’re really able to process trauma and grief without the benefit of time or psychological distance.” That the tinpot despot is again in charge makes the nine songs resonate all the more. As Hatfield says, “So this now feels, very sadly, much more relevant to our world than it did when I finished it.”
The nine-track LP opens with “Puddle,” a brief prelude that sets the stage for the well-crafted metaphors and parables that follow: “I was born when a rainstorm started blowing/how long I’ll stick around, there’s no way of knowing/I started out clean and clear/but I didn’t ask to be set here, now/all the debris from this year settles near/It’s only for a couple of days, but I’m here.” The songs primarily capture the quiet desperation that accents day-to-day life for many; as he sings in “Where to Dig,” about friendship and forgiveness, “If there’s one thing that I never learned/It’s how to shut my mouth and wait my turn to speak/when someone’s suffering/I promise I will always be your friend.”
“Who’s Gonna Do It If You Don’t Try” turns landscaping into a metaphor and ends with an apt observation: “Wearing blinders doesn’t stop you looking up.” “Hegemony,” which features Kathleen Bracken on vocals, digs into dictates and dominance and how—though they may get you what you want in the short term—they don’t win friends or influence people: “You can’t force a feeling any more than you can script a dream/and people end up needing to live for more than just one thing.” “Godmother,” released as a single a while back, turns a failed relationship into a springboard to explore Hatfield’s doubts and dreams, while “Forlorn Depression”’ aptly conveys the resignation many experience from time to time.
The title track tackles the multi-pronged, ever-increasingly radical responses to tough times; hope can escalate to violence in the wink of an old politician’s eye. Album closer “Blue Skies Above” which features Lauren Balthrop on harmonies, finds Hatfield synthesizing the strife into something positive: “I got no direction but up/where I see only a blue sky, and nobody else above/So I aim in the direction of love/And keep following blue skies/I’ve been watching for long enough.”
In short, Optimism Paranoia Desperation Abolition resonates like an old-school singer-songwriter’s album. It travels through the dark nights of the soul, while letting in just enough light so that we don’t lose our way. One need not be political or progressive to appreciate the songs, in other words. It’s a wonderful album.
The Old Grey Cat 