Seasoned Eyes Were Beaming is the charming debut solo release by Sara Lov, erstwhile frontwoman of Los Angeles’ dream pop collective, Devics.
Though here breaking out on her own with a highly personal work, Lov doesn’t deviate greatly from the wistful melancholy her band produced for more than a decade.
Woozy opening track Just Beneath the Chords drifts into being via an air of punchdrunk instrumentation, while Lov’s gorgeous, soothing but seemingly aching voice floats through. Rarely does the gloom lift, yet so beautifully accomplished is this album that the bleakness is not wearisome.
The yearning of A Thousand Bees, the stoicism of Fountain and the isolation of New York, where “maybe it’s enough to know, I’ll never walk alone” are all as graceful and sweet as they are sad.
Lov herself has described the album as reflecting her wish to reminisce through the “eyes of youth” which perhaps explains the inclusion of the album’s sole cover, the Simon and Garfunkel classic Old Friends. Though it might be described as too faithful a rendition, Lov’s version evokes the tone of the original to great effect with its apt use of ghostly echoes and acoustic guitar.
Elsewhere, the measured introspection of this ten song collection remains Lov’s own, beautifully executed for it.
