Marking the band’s first album of original material in nearly two decades, Evan and his merry bunch of Lemonheads have put in much work recently to build The Lemonheads name back up.  Previewing the album with the release of four songs (“Deep End,” “In the Margin,” “Togetherness Is All I’m After,” and “The Key of Victory”), promoting an autobiography, playing a European tour, releasing paintings, and giving a number of – very open- interviews about his past, and current, life Mr Dando (let’s never forget a previous part-resident in this region) is, it appears at least, back to his match-fitness-best of the mid 90’s and ready to reclaim his pop crown.

Spread over eleven songs, including contributions from J Mascis and Juliana Hatfield, Love Chant is a classic Lemonheads pop record.  Yes his voice is deeper, yes the lyrics are a bit more wistful than they were 30 years ago, yes there’s a certain joy missing in places, but Evan still writes one hell of a pop melody. 

So what we get is classic Evan – the lo-fi production, the feeling that songs were slightly rushed in places, the belief that all is not always well – but now we get it with a deeper, more serious, vocal delivery.  It’s not quite the last decade of Johnny-Cash but it’s also not too far away.  Highlight ‘Wild thing’ is a case in point – Evan sings about being young and loose and free – the tune is fairly upbeat and jangly – but it’s all wrapped up in a slightly distant, slightly regretful, vocal line.

As Love Chant shows, Evan still has an outstanding ability to pick out a classic pop melody line and a classic jangle.  But now there’s just a sadder side to it.  The slacker boy has grown up.