Album Review – Lindi Ortega’s “From The Ether”
#590.5 (Gothic Country) on the Country DDS.
It’s only fitting that Lindi Ortega would make her ominous return with Halloween right around the corner, and the witching hour nigh upon us. For those looking to venture onto the dark side of North American roots music, this Canadian-born Gothic country mistress conjures up a song cycle meant to leave one haunted by the spirits of past lives, and past lovers.
For those who were around for the early era of Lindi Ortega’s career, she was essential listening. Starting with her 2011 album Little Red Boots through her 2018 conceptualized album Liberty, Lindi was one of the premier women in underground/independent country music, and a Gothic country queen. She even drew interest from the CCMA Awards (Canada’s CMAs), made he Grand Ole Opry debut, and got some big touring opportunities.
But Lindi Ortega’s career corresponded with the height of Bro-Country, and happened before independent country performers were receiving the kind of support they are today. Frustrated at the lack of resonance for what was a string of excellent albums, she decided to stop running head first into walls, and moved back to Canada from Nashville, basically retiring from music.
Then recently, the label Truly Handmade Records was formed in honor of Guy Clark, and Lindi Ortega was brought on to be one of the inaugural artists, along with songwriter Jack Barksdale. The two released a couple of Tom Waits songs together earlier this year, marking Lindi’s official return to music. But more importantly, she sparked up a working relationship with Austin, TX-based drummer and producer Mike Meadows, and it resulted in a new original album.
From The Ether was inspired by Lindi Ortega taking a stroll through the Oakwood Cemetery in Austin, TX where pioneering folklorist John Lomax and his son Alan Lomax are buried. Though Ralph Peer receives the lion’s share of the credit for seeding country music, the Lomax legacy is arguably just as important. The album’s opening song “Epitaph” is a field recording captured in that cemetery, similar to how the Lomax family captured songs in the field for preservation.
Through the new album, Ortega traces American music’s Gothic influences back to the very beginning of recorded music, along with presenting occasional flourishes of more modern sounds in and effort to immerse the listener in a seasonal mood for channeling spirits and calling forth ancestors. The quiet genius of the album is how Ortega parallels the paranormal activity of ghosts and haunting with the feeling of being haunted by the ghost of lost lovers and unrequited affection.
From The Ether is full of creative flourishes and inspired movements, with the songs acting like the rooms you venture into in a haunted old hotel. It also presents some challenges to finding appeal to a wide audience. Unlike Ortega’s earlier albums that all included darker themes and sounds, but still a leaven of country sensibility, this is definitely a seasonal release that is really specialized for those who like the dark and nebulous side of music. If you want to find the best entry point into Lindi Ortega’s music, one of her earlier might be a better place to start.
The album also includes a few song that utilize what sound like electronically-derived tones, though some of this is actually accomplished through organic, percussive means. But if you listen to one of the album’s early singles “The Ghost Of You,” you might mistake it for an EDM track, which in some respects, it kind of is. This might present some conflict with country-aligned ears.
This is a specialty project, but a good one, and an interesting forum for Lindi’s ravenseque voice. Lindi has never really been interested in delivering mere entertainment. Just like her last album Liberty, this is a conceptualized work, intended to get the audience lost in moments that pass through us like wayward spirits, but can be felt like shivers deep in our bones.
7.5/10
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Purchase/Stream From The Ether
Stellar
October 25, 2024 @ 7:38 am
She’s very good at cohesive albums. I think she has at least one that’s an official concept album but everything else she’s done feels cohesive in the way that a concept album is cohesive.
This one was a big departure from some of her previous stuff but it’s very very good. Really fantastic vocals. I wish that people who like for example Orville Peck would discover her- obviously very different voice and songwriting but it’s kind of in the same wheelhouse and she’s one of the people who invented that sound.
The gothic country/dark Americana thing keeps bubbling beneath the surface the past couple of years. The Swedish Embassy Of Gothic Country blog has a pretty good breakdown of that whole genre.
Matsfan/Jatsfan
October 25, 2024 @ 7:47 am
I learned of Lindi Ortega from this site. Looking forward to listening to this over the weekend as well as revisiting her older stuff. Thanks, Trig!
Stellar
October 25, 2024 @ 7:55 am
Oh man you’re in for a real treat. Her earlier albums are a little more rock influenced than this one but every single one of them is absolutely out of this world.
Huntermc
October 25, 2024 @ 9:18 am
Lindi Ortega is one of my favorite discoveries from this site. Haven’t had time for this album yet but I’ll hopefully get to give it a spin this weekend!
Hope we get a tour to go along with this album.
Chris Levins
October 25, 2024 @ 11:23 am
Some ten plus years ago I googled her to review one of her albums or see just what she was up to, which brought me to this site. Been coming back daily. Don’t care for the edm track but am happy she’s released another album.
Trigger
October 25, 2024 @ 11:47 am
Thanks for reading Chris.
Dennis Reynolds
October 25, 2024 @ 11:57 am
Come on Trig, where’s the Love Somebody review? You know we all want it!
Ron
October 25, 2024 @ 12:02 pm
It isn’t Lindi but I’m waiting for the White Rabbit review.
Trigger
October 25, 2024 @ 12:52 pm
Really?
Ron
October 25, 2024 @ 12:01 pm
I think I first heard of LIndi from this site. She was one of my favorite artists back in the 2010’s with her earlier albums. I saw her three times in concert. I’m not sure about this album though. I’ll need to listen a few more times.
Blackwater
October 25, 2024 @ 2:43 pm
Always liked Lindi. Maybe not everything she does, but her heart is definitely in the right place. She sticks to her unique style and doesn’t resort to the awful path a lot of female artists choose. Glad she’s still at it!
BigPete
October 25, 2024 @ 3:32 pm
Lindi is to me a big meh. Her singing is unremarkable and her style is /r/notlikeothergirls. Not a bad singer, just boribg to my ears.
Winston
October 25, 2024 @ 8:50 pm
Totally get not enjoying Lindi, I’d saybim a fan of about two thirds of her songs, but I have a hard time understanding describing her voice as unremarkable. She sounds like if Dolly Parton were a ghost to me
Scott S.
October 26, 2024 @ 6:30 am
I’m a big Lindi Ortega fan. She was Americana before Americana was cool. So many of today’s artists in the genre are obviously inspired by her work. When Lindi said she was going to try and record an album again after previously stating she was done with the business it was good news.
From The Ether seems more of a one off type project than an actual comeback album. While I would have loved another Tin Star or Cigarettes And Truckstops, this gothic themed album is a welcome return after a long absence, and hopefully just the start of things to come. I for one an happy to have her back.
Also glad to see there are some new fans just learning of Lindi here. Don’t stop at this album. Dig into her catalog. It’s worth your time.
J-Fortyfive Western
October 27, 2024 @ 1:22 am
Oh, I’ve missed that voice. Welcome back, Lindi.
Viejo
October 29, 2024 @ 3:57 am
I have missed you Lindi. Looking forward to seeing you again at the Mercury Lounge!?
M-A
October 30, 2024 @ 6:01 am
Thanks for the discovery! Her albums Cigarettes & Truckstops and Tin Star are very good. Her new album is kinda weird but, artistically, I think it’s more interesting than her previous two. Glad she’s back and, hopefully, she can do a tour so we can catch her live.
Tilly Kelly
November 11, 2024 @ 5:31 am
this is country? Very eclectic and weird, but good. Authenticity above all, for those who like it.