THE CD: "Shadows And Dust" (Stereo Society)
THE PERFORMER: Lene Lovich

The Grand Goth Duchess of punk rock's premier label, Stiff Records, Lene Lovich has returned with her first full length studio album in 15 years. In the interim, besides raising a family, she worked on film and theater projects, as well as recording the PETA anthem "Don't Kill The Animals" with fellow Bizarro Diva, Nina Hagen.

"Shadows And Dust" is shocking in that Lovich seems not to have missed a beat. She sounds just as wonderfully strange as ever. Generally, when an artist as eccentric and enigmatic as Lovich disappears for an extended period, their return is a disappointment. Not so with Lene Lovich. This new album is as delightfully odd as the best of her music from decades ago. This Czechoslovakian princess (actually from Detroit), wears her surrealistic influences on her sleeve. You can hear traces of Brecht, DEVO and Van Der Graaf Generator in her crisply composed songs about living life happily in the shadows. This CD is a primo slab of mutant cabaret music.

Recorded at her home studio, with her longtime collaborator, husband Les Chappell playing most of the instruments, "Shadows And Dust" sounds like a fresh blast from the new wave heyday of the early 1980s. They say that the best music in the world is whatever you're listening to when you're between the ages of fifteen and twenty, and for me this is it. I would have worn this album out on vinyl had it existed back in the dark ages of the Reagan regime. I guess the time is right for new music to inspire non-conformists.

With song titles like "Ghost Story," "Wicked Witch," "Gothica" and "Insect Eater," you can see that Lovich is still in tune with the Hot Topic crowd. "Wicked Witch," with its driving synthesizer and Lovich's patented operatic hiccup vocals is a standout track that recalls DEVO (at one point, her labelmates in the UK on Stiff Records). "Gothica" is a new anthem for creepy misfits everywhere. "Shape Shifter" manages to take a hip-hop beat and twist it into a perfect vehicle for Lovich's offbeat musical magic.

If you're a fan of Siouxsie and the Banshees, then you need to check out Lene Lovich, for the pure unadulterated sound of a woman on a wild musical mission. Siouxsie copped most of her vocal and musical style from Lovich, but she watered it down. On "Shadows And Dust" Lene Lovich has reclaimed her crown as the leading purveyor of love songs for the weird. The album can be ordered directly from The Stereo Society.

---By Rudy Panucci