Lilly Hiatt - Forever (2025)

Amid a resurgence of late '80s-early '90s nostalgia, few albums sound as authentic as Lilly Hiatt's latest—which seems like it was dug out of a time capsule buried beneath the old 120 Minutes studio. Forever comes with a bona-fide: It's mixed by Paul Q. Kolderie, who produced and/or engineered such classics of the era as Hole's Live Through This, Radiohead's Pablo Honey and Pixies' Surfer Rosa. But Hiatt has more in common here with a pair of stepsisters Kolderie worked with, Throwing Muses' Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly (as well as her later band, Belly). It's there in the breezy, countrified jangle of "Evelyn's House," the cowpunk songbird sweetness of "Ghost Ship," and the spirited shuffle of "Forever," which finds Hiatt's trill wrapped in a light layer of vintage-mic effect fuzz as the guitar sizzles. "Shouldn't Be" is an alt-rock spitfire, all guitar crunch and hip-shaking cymbal, with Hiatt letting out a whoop of pure joy. She's said it was written after attending a Mudhoney concert and also partly inspired by Olivia Rodrigo, herself a '90s devotee. But, at 40, Hiatt was at least alive in that decade, even if she was still in elementary school when Exile in Guyville came out. There's an echo of Liz Phair on the groovy, lightly psyched-out stomp of "Hidden Day" and catchy, chiming "Kwik-E-Mart"—which also features drop-D tuning (hello, Melvins) and pays tribute to her love of going to shows, then hitting a convenience store for snacks before heading home to watch a movie. Hiatt has said these songs were written after she got "all the things I'd always dreamed of doing"—"I fell in love, got married, adopted a dog"—but was hit hard by paralyzing anxiety; it took leaving the city bustle of Nashville and learning to be present for her to enter this new chapter. That gives an intriguing double meaning to the lyric "I thought time was gonna stay in one place/ But it's not," from dreamy, freewheeling "Thoughts." The song is obviously about friendly ghosts and the youthful folly of not knowing the world will move on and leave you a little behind: "We were young and dumb and magic was alive," Hiatt sings, referencing the Sundays and how it feels good when a song you actually know comes on the radio. But it's also a bit of reassurance knowing you don't have to be stuck in the same place forever.

TRACKLIST

1. Lilly Hiatt - Hidden Day
2. Lilly Hiatt - Shouldn’t Be
3. Lilly Hiatt - Ghost Ship
4. Lilly Hiatt - Somewhere
5. Lilly Hiatt - Evelyn’s House
6. Lilly Hiatt - Forever
7. Lilly Hiatt - Man
8. Lilly Hiatt - Kwik-E-Mart
9. Lilly Hiatt - Thoughts