Lindi Ortega – Cigarettes & Truckstops

Broken hearts, truck stops, sinners and no way into heaven, Lindi Ortega has the usual bases covered on her second album Cigarettes & Truckstops. The record follows in the steps of her debut, Little Red Boots, but is even more soaked in the sounds of traditional country music as if Boots was the tester before Lindi decided to dive right in and make this one.

Her smokey sweet vocals are the highlight throughout the album made up of twangy, old-styled, country and western tunes that few would expect from a Toronto girl. Despite the sound of the album, Lindi goes beyond the usual themes in the broken-hearted world of country. She wants to get over her troubles by getting high in High, where she sings “Gonna get a little bit high today/don’t mind if I do/I’m not into razor blades/So I’m tryin’ something new.” The next track, Use Me, she implores her lover to use her to get high rather than drugs, which she lists off one by one and adds “I’m not illegal and I come for free.”

Unlike the last record, Lindi kicks this one off on a slower note with the title track about going to meet her lover. She picks it way up on the next track The Day You Die which is one of just a few of the upbeat songs but its theme isn’t quite on par with the foot stomping, hand claps as she sings about the disconnect in the relationship she continues to stay in. Most of the album, however, stays toward the downtempo to show off her abilities as a balladeer having had already mastered the upbeats.

Lindi takes the golden era of country music to a new time where the genre has blended in so much with pop that it would be almost unrecognizable to the greats of generations ago. Cigarettes & Truckstops show that Lindi wasn’t just a one-album deal but that she’s true to the genre that has been long left in the dust.

Tracklisting
1. Cigarettes & Truckstops
2. The Day You Die
3. Lead Me On
4. Don’t Wanna Hear It
5. Demons Don’t Get Me Down
6. Murder Of Crows
7. Heaven Has No Vacancy
8. High
9. Use Me
10. Every Mile Of The Ride