LOMA - HOW WILL I LIVE WITHOUT A BODY?

Released: 28/06/2024

Two parts American – Dan Duszynski and Jonathan Meiburg, and one part English – singer, and part-time death doula (yes you read that right), Emily Cross, Loma are based in Texas but relocated to Devon for album number three, the terrific How Will I Live Without a Body? Such was the brilliance of the cerebral indie-rock of their self-titled 2018 debut LP that fan Brian Eno got in touch to offer guidance and contributions to sophomore LP Don’t Shy Away (2020), and for the latest, the creative ante was upped once again when another hero, Laurie Anderson, offered the trio a chance to work with an AI trained on her entire body of work. Meiburg sent Anderson a photo from his book-in-progress about the once and future life of Antarctica, and Anderson’s AI responded with two poems, parts of which the band used in the new songs (the album title is taken from one of these AI concoctions).

The most assured work from the band yet, How Will I Live Without a Body? is a record of spectral beauty that expands its horizons, the Texan origins, so apparent on the first two records, making way for tracks with a distinct European sensibility – two of my favourites being ‘Pink Sky’, the verse of which sounds uncannily like Serge Gainsbourg’s ‘Cargo Culte’ crossed with Connan Mockasin’s ‘It’s Choade My Dear’, while the chorus goes super Sandy Denny mystic Brit-folk; and the propulsive, baroque alt-pop of ‘How It Starts', which sounds like the result of a team-up between the legendary Italian 60s artist Mina, Kate Bush and Clannad. Grown-up indie-rock for people who believe in ghosts, How Will I Live Without a Body? is a seriously accomplished record.