BY ERIN MALYSA
PHOTO BY MARISA GESUALDI
Twenty-nine years and five albums later, The Breeders are back with All Nerve, their first LP since 2008’s Mountain Battles. And, as expected, the original lineup of Kim and Kelley Deal, Josephine Wiggs, and Jim Macpherson delivers uncompromising lyrics wrapped in a soft, subtle maturity. Thematically, the album delves into the heady realms of isolation, loneliness, death and the need to run and escape while the exit remains elusive. On the track “Spacewoman”, the idea of being distant, fearful and alone on this planet is explored with the refrain: “Spacewoman, spacewoman / How lonely does it feel? You’re spinning round and round / I look up, I’m down here, rolling around too.” It’s the old idea of being lonely in a room full of people, as sometimes it’s not about “the big light show” or “hitting home runs and line drives with the sun in your eyes.” Sometimes you just want a single conversation with another human being that carries some weight and buoys your being to this plane of existence.