From the first bass note within the driving drum beat you can tell something is different about the new record from NIKKI LANE. The backbeat feels like a gutsy strut while the lead guitar feels like a revved up engine shifting gears. DENIM & DIAMONDS comes out firing, spit shining the cowboy boots and tossing on a jean jacket.
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Produced by Joshua Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Denim & Diamonds has the Highway Queen embracing a more rock-oriented sound while still maintaining the heartfelt outlaw country sound she has developed across her previous three releases. Denim & Diamonds still has the f*ck-off flare of which Nikki has come to be known. Her stylized, story-telling lyrics are all there as well as her catchy country hooks. The outlaw country sound is now balanced out with a gritty guitar and a machine gun snare that echoes the sound of 70’s rock.
Nikki Lane has made a record that sounds new and old. Familiar and surprising. She embraces where she has come from, (“First High”, “Born Tough”) the lessons learned along the way, (“Good Enough”, “Try Harder”) all while doing things her way, (“Denim & Diamonds”, “Black Widow”).
All of the songs work. Lane’s natural swagger feels earthy and organic, the hooks and melodies are never forced, and Homme’s band, enhanced by Matt Pynn’s pedal steel (especially effective on the ballad “Faded”), balances the toughness with a dimmer rootsy sensibility. The closing acoustic “Chimayo” brings Mexican strumming to a song about how the titular woven garment is a metaphor for complex life.
Denim & Diamonds sounds like a fresh reboot for a career that has been slowly but progressively building steam over the past decade. It shows Nikki Lane at her best, stepping towards a darker direction while keeping one foot planted in the country and roots music of her past.
Denim & Diamonds is in-stock now on LP, CD and indie-store only yellow vinyl. And check out these other Nikki Lane releases as well!
