Stubborn Heart

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• 

  On Vinyl

  Greg

  • Root Genre: Rock
  • Primary Branch: Art Rock / Singer-Songwriter
  • Secondary Influences: Electronic, Spoken Word, Americana, Folk Rock, Leonard Cohen-style Noir Pop
  • Textural Identity: World-weary, literary and nocturnal — gravelly half-spoken vocals, synth-heavy production, electronic backbeats, organ, pedal steel and sparse acoustic instrumentation
  • Energy Axis: Low → Medium (mostly slow, conversational and brooding, with rhythm serving atmosphere rather than momentum)

  Stubborn Heart is the debut album Larry “Ratso” Sloman released at age 70 after decades working primarily as a writer and journalist. Lucky Number notes his long associations with Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, John Cale and Leonard Cohen, and those connections are audible throughout the record. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=“0”}

  I’d put it under Rock → Art Rock / Singer-Songwriter, although it is a slightly awkward fit—which is part of its character. Much of the album uses synthesized and electronic accompaniment, while Sloman alternates between rough singing and a spoken delivery that strongly recalls late-period Leonard Cohen. “Matching Scars” is the conspicuous exception, leaning toward Dylan-esque Americana through brushed drums, guitar, organ and pedal steel. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=“1”}

  The guest list reinforces that art-rock lineage. Nick Cave appears on “Our Lady of Light,” while the record also features Yasmine Hamdan and Warren Ellis among its collaborators. Sloman’s background as a lyricist is central: he had written songs with John Cale and spent decades embedded in the Dylan/Cohen orbit before finally making a record under his own name. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=“2”}

  Small review: Stubborn Heart feels less like the debut of a new musician than like a lifetime of stories finally finding musical form. Sloman’s weathered voice is not conventionally beautiful, but that becomes an advantage on material such as “Our Lady of Light,” where Nick Cave’s presence makes the Cohen connection especially strong. The electronic arrangements are unexpectedly modern and prevent the record from becoming straightforward roots rock. At its best, it occupies that appealing territory where spoken memoir, nocturnal art rock and old-songwriter melancholy overlap.

  Collection shorthand: Rock → Art Rock / Singer-Songwriter.