Buzz bands

BUZZ BANDS

The steely, smoky tones in which Sara Lov (left) narrates the rapturous songs on her debut, “Seasoned Eyes Were Beaming,” hint at old wounds viewed through new resolve. For Lov – and yes, that’s her real name – it’s the sound of a thirtysomething finding her own voice while Dustin O’Halloran, her longtime collaborator in the L.A. band Devics, advances his solo career. “When Dustin started having all these great things happen with his career, I thought, ‘Maybe I should do something myself,’ ” Lov says. “I feel confident as a singer, but I don’t feel like I have a lot of vocabulary musically.” While Devics’ albums and their Mazzy Star-like shimmer resonated with burnished textures and what Lov calls “Dustin’s complexities,” her own material keeps it simpler “and maybe a little bit darker,” relying on experiences and images culled from a high-mileage life. Lov was kidnapped by her father at age 4 and lived in Israel and then Minnesota until landing in L.A. at age 12 to be reared by an uncle. She met O’Halloran at Santa Monica College, and after Devics was signed by the Cocteau Twins’ Simon Raymonde, the duo spent several years in a small town in northern Italy writing and recording their 2003 album “The Stars at Saint Andrea.” It was in Italy, where Lov kept an apartment until recently, that she first penned “a few tunes that didn’t feel like Devics songs,” she says. When O’Halloran’s “Piano Solos” gained traction (and earned him a slot as tour opener for k.d. lang), Lov began flushing out more songs, with the help of producer/multi-instrumentalist (and Gnarls Barkley sideman) Zac Rae. “He’s done it as kind of a labor-of-love-type thing,” she says. “I’m very lucky that a lot of really great musician friends have come in and played on the record.” Release plans for the album are uncertain. “I’m just happy that I made something that I feel good about,” she says. Live: Lov is playing a Wednesday residency in April at Tangier. Also: Mia Doi Todd, never better than on her seventh and latest album, “Gea,” headlines the Echo tonight… . Obsolete Heart celebrates the release of “And the Devil Makes Three” Saturday at the Kibbitz Room… . And downtown L.A.’s Crash Mansion has some local shows going – on Monday, it’s Moving Picture Show and Hazelden, along with Eastern Conference Champions.

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Kevin.Bronson@latimes.com