Listen UP!: Lorde, Imagine Dragons, Lany, Beth Ditto, Verite

Moody wunderkind Lorde releases her new album "Melodrama," the second studio album by this New Zealander. American rockers Imagine Dragons release their third studio album, "EVOLVE" a collection of 11 electronic rock tunes. Former Gossip frontwoman and honey-throated goddess Beth Ditto releases her debut solo album, "Fake Sugar," a collection of 12 Southern rock tracks. Both Brooklyn-based indie pop singer/songwriter V�rit� and LANY, the trio of Paul Klein, Jake Goss and Les Priest, release their studio debuts after two successful EPs.

"Melodrama" (Lorde)

Moody wunderkind Lorde releases her new album "Melodrama," the second studio album by this New Zealander. She reportedly started writing it in December 2013 and went right through the breakup with her longtime boyfriend in 2015. Now the talented 20-year-old is ready to step back into the spotlight with 11 songs on the theme of solitude, recorded over 18 months with co-writer and producer Jack Antonoff. Lorde said that it's more than just a breakup album, it is "a record about being alone. The good parts and the bad parts, dealing with themes of heartbreak and solitude." Her early single "Green Light" has her starting her party night out doing her makeup in someone else's car, as they "order different drinks at the same bars." She tries to warn the other ladies off of him, saying, "those Great Whites, they have big teeth/ but they bite you." The air's sucked right out of her lungs when she has to face the truth in "Sober," saying her behavior's all just part of the games of the weekend, to pretend that "we just don't care." In "Homemade Dynamite" she lets "things come out of the woodwork" as an electro-pop beat keeps pace. "The Louvre" is a moody pop song about the early stages of a casual relationship, getting "caught up for a minute." She is melancholy as she sings about being a "Liability," but then gets a bit more upbeat in "Hard Feelings/ Loveless," a track that takes the 'crazy ex-girlfriend' clich� to extremes. "I care for myself the way I used to care about you," she sings in the first part, then as "Loveless" cedes to a pop sound, Lorde sings, "bet you wanna rip my heart out... guess what? I'd like that." Lorde gets moody again as she wakes up in "Sober II (Melodrama)" singing out the chorus, "Oh how fast the evening passes cleaning up the champagne glasses." "I did my best to exist just for you," sings Lorde, saying that he bets he rues the day he kissed a "Writer In The Dark." "I love you 'til my breathing stops, I love you 'til you call the cops on me," she sings forlornly, played out to the sounds of strings. Lorde looks back at all the love they lost in "Supercut," noting that in her head, she does everything right, forgives and doesn't fight, but it's just not ending up with the complete picture at the end. She goes back to her sad-sack singing in "Liability (Reprise)" but ends the album strong with "Perfect Places," singing about her nightly forays to parties and their graceless aftermaths. On July 30, Lorde will make an appearance at the Fuji Rock Festival in Niigata, Japan. Sayonara, young one!
(Republic Records)

"Fake Sugar" (Beth Ditto)

Former Gossip frontwoman and honey-throated goddess Beth Ditto releases her debut solo album, "Fake Sugar," a collection of 12 Southern rock tracks. The electric honky-tonk vibes work well with what some critics have dubbed Ditto's "Arkansas holler." And truly, it's the strongest female voice that the U.S. has to offer. She kicks things off with "Fire," with its heavy bass line and lyrics like, "get up if you want my love" and "bless my soul, I can't resist." In "In and Out," Ditto delves into the give and take of long-term relationships, perhaps inspired by the rocky patch she and her wife went through. Money isn't everything, she sings, saying, "I, I do it for you, you do it for me, and we go in and out of love." The title track has Ditto sick and tired of being lonely, with a bouncy bass line keeping time and the old "hambone" riff being trotted out for authenticity's sake. She's not afraid of the likes of you, who can't even look her in the eye because your nose is so high in the air, in the saucy "Savoire Faire." Her power ballad "We Could Run" is a little light in the lyrics department (as are some other cuts) but somehow, Ditto's bravado picks up the slack where her other resources are stretched thin. This is apparent in "Ooh La La," a song that sounds heavily influenced by the protest garage rock of bands like Le Tigre, but with a peppering of French. Her funky "Go Baby Go" has "too many cooks in the kitchen, too many songs on the radio" as she searches for the ghost rider that will take her for a spin. "The first time I saw you across a crowded room, you couldn't take your eyes off me," Ditto sings in "Oh My God," a song about the ups and downs of love and relationships. She doesn't care what anyone thinks; without you, she'll go crazy. She tempers things with her slow jam, "Love in Real Life," singing about how things aren't perfect, the sun doesn't always shine on you, but that's just life. She lays on the sizzle in "Do You Want Me To," singing, "I'll never ask too much from you/ But oh, I'll do whatever you want me to... Nothing's enough, I want too much from you." In the next track, "Lover," she asks her to have the decency to let her know if they are through, wondering, "Was I not enough?" This push and pull marks most of the album, which is clearly the work of a singer who has matured and come into her own. Ditto closes a strong but sometimes uneven album with "Clouds," noting that there's nothing she could do to get you off her mind -- if she even wanted to, that is. Ditto has positioned her solo debut smartly, to fall squarely into the mainstream while still letting her occupy the margins she rightfully claims. Way to go, Ditto!
(Capitol/Virgin)

"Evolve" (Imagine Dragons)

American rockers Imagine Dragons release their third studio album, "Evolve" a collection of 11 electronic rock tunes. The band took a break to get their sound together, and this cohesive album reflects that. Their "I Don't Know Why" outlines a dangerous love, bursting with emotion. They go for a fast-spitting rap sound in "Whatever It Takes," singing, "Always had a fear of being typical, looking at my body feeling miserable/ Always hanging on to the visual, I wanna be invisible." Their single "Believer" lays out how things are going to be, with lead singer Dan Reynold's voice meshing perfectly with the instrumentals to create an anthemic sound. "If you're afraid of falling, don't look down" sings and Reynolds in "Walking the Wire." They get emotional in the drum-heavy rock anthems "Rise Up" and "Thunder," a hard-hitting, bass-heavy, rap-influenced anthem that's one of the best. They lighten things up in "I'll Make It Up To You," with its apologetic promise to work every single night to make up for whatever transgression he's committed. They change gears in the tub-thumping "Yesterday," with its melodic plodding and interesting percussion. They rock out in "Mouth of the River," singing about being, "alkaline, always keeping to the bases/ I'm overboard, I'm self-destructive and self-important." The off-kilter bass beat of "Start Over" leaves the listener unsettled, as Reynolds admits, "I never did you right, I know that/ Too many sleepless nights, I own that." Is it too late to go back to the beginning? They end on a slowed-down note with "Dancing in the Dark," inviting her to join him in his moonlight reverie. Imagine Dragons is spending their summer touring Europe, before returning to the U.S. in late September.
(KIDinaKORNER/Interscope Records)

"LANY" (LANY)

LANY, an acronym for 'Los Angeles New York' is the moniker that the trio of Paul Klein, Jake Goss and Les Priest settled on as they hit the road in 2015 to play the festival circuit. Now, after two EPs, they've released their studio debut album, a self-titled collection of 16 cuts that blend the early '90s vibe with R&B and New Wave electronica. "Jumping heart to heart and it's starting to wear me down/ 'He's a total dick' is my reputation now, around town," sings Klein in "The Breakup," a song about wanting to be alone, but then realizing it will never be the same after she's gone. In the pop-styled "Super Far" he doesn't think she can love him back, leading him to conclude "if this is love, I don't want it." In the loudly digital "Overtime," Klein sings, "It was magic on the first touch, turned tragic as I caught you covering up." The synthesizers get a workout in the catchy "Flowers on the Floor" and "Parents" is the fanciful voicemail message from Jake's mom in Arkansas about his "Parents" tattoo. The bold "ILYSB" (I Love You So Bad) is about how you keep him up all night, and their self-titled track "LANY" is an R&B cut about "where did we go wrong" that you'd expect from Boyz II Men. This laid-back vibe rolls into the next track, "Hericane," a song about the shit hitting the fan with the lyrics, "our home's a wreck, look at this mess/ you blame it on disobedience but I think it's time, time you realized you're the one in the wrong." The toe-tapper "Hurts" has solid bass moving it along, and they salute California in "Good Girls," with the lyrics, "dancing in the light of the canyon sun, racing every wave/ going north on the 1" and promises that nothing's better than what they built together in California. The slow, louche cut "Pancakes" works a lot better when you don't know that it's probably just a sample of someone asking what's for breakfast. But the chill vibe rolls into the next track, "Tampa," as they sing, "I can do better than this." Percussion shows up in unexpected places in the slow ditty "So, Soo Pretty," and LANY wraps up their debut with "It Was Love," a story song about a duo who knew each other since second grade and grew up to "sneaking around at night and thinking we had our whole lives." The sad lesson: nothing lasts forever.
(Interscope)

"Somewhere in Between" (Vérité)

Brooklyn-based indie pop singer/songwriter V�rit� (Kelsey Byrne) releases her official studio debut (after two successful EPs). The 13 tracks blend electronica and alt-pop elements into sometimes intense combinations. The opener, "When You're Gone" melds an ambient opening with V�rit� spitting out lyrics like "I don't mind you leaving when the damage is done." Just know that she's not crawling on her knees to keep you here anymore. She stands up straighter with her back against the wall, sings V�rit� as she wonders if you plan to "Phase Me Out." She employs a stutter effect in "Death of Me," and adds a bit of funk to "Bout You." She worries she let you down in "Better" and gets sassy in "Need Nothing," saying she won't cave in. She's not innocent, she's far from a "Saint," in one cut. In another, she's looking for a distraction from the troubles in her mind in "Solutions," and sings in "Floor" that "with a single hit of what you've been dealing I stay out of view." "Somewhere in Between" is a catchy tune, and "Nothing" has a singsong, repetitive rhythm that plays well as she sings, "there's nothing that I could say to take you to better days." V�rit� gives Janet Jackson a run for her money when she vows that she's in love with "Control." She caps an excellent full-length debut album with "Freedom of Falling," singing about how she'd kill to catch that feeling. Catch her in shows in Canada and the Midwest, including Chicago and Minneapolis before hitting the West Coast in September.
(Kobalt Music Recordings)