Although her star is still on the rise, Canadian country singer Lindsay Ell has already cemented her reputation as a truly original artist.
After releasing “Worth the Wait,” her debut EP, Ell took to hand-painting guitars to reflect each track’s theme and mood. In 2018, she opted to put her own unique spin on guitar hero John Mayer’s “Continuum” album with “The Continuum Project.” This year, Ell has begun hosting a weekly YouTube talk show called “Living wELL w/Ell.”
Fans of Ell’s creativity will not be disappointed by her latest release, “heart theory.” In keeping with her knack for wordplay, Ell arranged for the capital letters in the track listing to spell out “heart theory” when put together. However, it’s not just the stylization of the track listing that makes Ell’s third release on Stoney Creek Records stand out. “heart theory” is a concept record intended to explore each of the seven stages of grief: shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, testing, and acceptance.
Some of the transitions between these stages on the album are smoother than others. With their similar tempos, the first two tracks, “Hits me” and “how good” almost seem to blend together upon first listen. Perhaps this was an intentional attempt to illustrate how quickly shock can turn into denial. With it’s driving bassline, “how good” is so catchy that Ell would be remiss not to make it her next single.
Denial turns to anger with “wAnt me back,” a song Ell co-wrote with Kane Brown, Matt McGinn and Lindsay Rimes. It is characterized by a trap-like hi-hat pattern played throughout the verses.
The next track, “get oveR you,” demonstrates Ell’s ability to turn a phrase. In arguably the most clever lyric of the album, Ell tells her ex to “get over yourself,” elaborating that now that she has moved on from him, it’s his turn to get over himself too. However, the strength of the double-entendre is a bit weakened by the less articulate refrain, “You said ’go to therapy’ and I did and it helped.” Ell’s delivery of the line unfortunately emphasizes its run-on nature.
The next two stages, bargaining and depression, are depicted by songs with equally creative concepts. “body language of a breakup” attempts to decipher the distorted perspective that comes with being on the inside of a relationship. While it’s plain to others when a couple is in love, “when you’re in the middle, it’s like you can’t see, can’t read it.” The following track, “good on you,” represents depression with yet another apt double-entendre. In lamenting how well happiness seems to suit him, Ell congratulates her ex on his new girlfriend with a half-hearted “good on ya.”
Ell addresses the testing stage with the soulful, Stevie Wonder-inspired “The oTHEr side” and banjo-forward “gO to.” These tracks really highlight Ell’s guitar prowess and blues influences. The poppiness of “gO to” does little to prepare the listener for what’s ahead in “make you,” Ell’s most personal song yet.
The ballad marks the beginning of the final stage of grief — acceptance. Ell bravely shares the emotional journey she has taken as a two-time survivor of sexual violence. The powerful lyric “It’s gonna make you build a fortress where you never had a wall” goes a long way to show listeners the extent of the impact these experiences have had on her as a person. Still, Ell and her collaborator Brandy Clark are very intentional in emphasizing that it’s not necessarily the injustice, but rather, the process of healing of a broken heart that’s shaped Ell: “The cracks’ll heal but you’ll always feel the break, and that’s what’s gonna make you.”
While “make you” would’ve made the perfect closing track, Ell chose to round out “heart theory” with a twelfth track entitled “ReadY to love.” The choice to conclude with a much more upbeat song really brands “heart theory” as the feel-good album that Ell told Rolling Stone she was hoping to achieve:
“People could listen to it and it would make them want to dance, yet I was still saying real things and difficult things sometimes. I call them “sangers” — like sad songs that are bangers. You kind of want to dance and groove, in your car or kitchen. That’s what music is about. I didn’t want this to be a heavy record; I wanted this to be an uplifting record to inspire people.”
All in all, Ell accomplished quite an impressive feat with “heart theory.” She was able to expound upon the classic concept of a break-up album by making her record not just about the story of one relationship, but about the feeling of heartbreak in general. Because of this, it’s likely that this album will find a wide audience in the midst of such a challenging time.
