Loss And Love With Sweetlove

Loss And Love With Sweetlove

Bruce Von Stiers

Sweetlove is a vocalist who has known love and heartache. She has also witnessed the loss that mental illness and addition instills. Her songs resonate with these themes, sometimes joyful, other times despair. Through it all, there is a message that things can get better.

Sweetlove has some new music that definitely wraps about those themes I mentioned. It is a new EP titled Goodnight, Lover.

Goodnight, Lover was produced by Justin Glasco. He was also involved in engineering for the EP. His background includes engineering and album for Lindsey Stirling and producing work by The Lone Bellow. Other people involved in the producing of the EP were Wendy Piatt (Sweetlove's real name) and Ryan Vaughn. Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist, The Masked Singer and The Greatest Showman are but just a few of things that Vaughn has been a part of. Jessica Vaughn did some additional vocal production on a couple of tracks on the EP. Besides being Ryan's wife, she is the president of Head Btch Music and a former contestant on The Voice.

Justin Glasco played the guitar, bass, keys and did some percussion for the EP. Jon Sosin and Adam Tressler played guitar. Sosin has recorded with Melissa Etheridge and Meghan Trainer and has played for both daytime and late night talk shows. Tressler's work can be heard on albums by Lord Huron and Demi Lovato and on shows such as A Million Little Things, The Unicorn and Lovecraft Country. Scotty Murray played guitar and steel guitar on two tracks. He has recorded with The Lone Bellow and Paul Baloche. Brian Griffin is on drums and does percussion. Besides recording with The Lone Bellow, he has worked with Brandi Carlile, Richard Marx and Lana Del Rey. Caroline Brooks, who has multiple credits under her belt, did backing vocals. Zach Berkman, who tours and records as The Heart Of, did backing vocals on one track.

The first track on the EP is Devil On Your Shoulder. It is a fun toe tapping song. It tells you to do what you want and don't let a wrong thing or a bad thing in life get you down. And that we should accept things for what they are and move on, sometimes being bad when you want to be with no regrets.

The title track, Goodnight, Lover is up next. It is mellow with slightly aching pop / country vocals. Being in love with someone and being able to be with them highlights the song.

Each song on Goodnight, Lover has a special significance for Sweetlove. In the course of just a couple of years, she lost her best friend, a favorite cousin and a long-time lover. Matt was her best friend growing up. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his ‘20's and struggled with reality. He died of pneumonia. Teddy was her cousin who lost a long battle with alcoholism. And David was her lover, who committed suicide.

The House is about giving up and admitting defeat. It is a beautiful, aching song with nice pedal steel guitar.

The pace picks back up with Did You Even Know. It deals with the guilt that remains after someone is gone. Did they really know that you loved them more than anything?

Before The Devil Knows You're Dead is another haunting yet beautiful song. Not having enough time with someone and how they couldn't outrun the demons that haunted their life is what I got from the song.

The Things I Didn't Say is a ballad that laments on the things that were left unsaid. And that now they will never be told to the person they were intended for.

Sweetlove has taken loss and tragedy and turned them into musical experience that is truly genuine. Her vocals are fluid and lyrical. The music in the songs is excellent and showcases the vocals well.

Goodnight, Lover is set to be released on March 26 th . It will be available on multiple digital platforms as well as in CD format.

You can hear tracks from Goodnight, Lover on Sweetlove's web site at https://www.wendysweetlove.com/ She also has a Facebook music page at https://www.facebook.com/sweetlovesounds/

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