New Jersey’s indie-pop group Bitter’s Kiss, aka the solo project of singer/songwriter Chloe Baker, is back with a new EP entitled Love Won’t Make You Cry. Three of the songs—“No One Will,” “The Rope,” and the title-track “Love Won’t Make You Cry”—are all radio mixes of songs that previously appeared on her debut self-titled album from last year.
The songs typically deal with darker themes; “The Rope,” for example, tackling the subject of a suicide in Baker’s family.
The other two songs showcase a startling amount of growth in the short amount of time since the last release. “Friday Nights” is another Kinks -ian ode to her trademark theme of middle-class melancholia, but this time it comes with an even greater amount of emotional baggage than before. The other is “No God,” a paean to suburban religious indifference, confusion, and agnosticism wrapped up in the guise of a light, poppy slice of gentle psychedelica heavily influenced by Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
For a singer of such a young age, her lyrics show a remarkable amount of restraint and depth, and Love Won’t Make You Cry is certainly the most concise testament to this.
