Pop Music Reviews : Lovich: Tilted Talent and New-Wave Nostalgia

This is the time of the year you find moldy bands from the ‘60s hobbling along the county fair circuit or packaged on some blast-from-the-past tour, but Lene Lovich’s show Sunday at the Coach House introduced the odd concept of “new wave nostalgia.”

It’s been 10 years since Lovich emerged on one of the “Be Stiff” tours, six years since she released her last album and nearly that long since she’s performed locally. The gap largely stemmed from a soured relationship with her old record company, but now that she’s a free agent and touring again, you’d think she’d arrive with a batch of new songs and an updated sound.

And you’d be dead wrong. In Sunday’s 15-song set, there were maybe three new tunes, including an animal-rights anthem written with Nina Hagen called “Don’t Kill the Animals.”

That left only a couple of her own new originals. One of those was actually a nifty slice of contemporary dance-pop, not unlike the new music of one of her old keyboardists, Thomas Dolby. Lovich was never overly prolific, but geez. . . .

Otherwise, it was pretty much Lovich business as usual, featuring such old quirk-pop numbers as “Lucky Number,” “Home” and the Dolby-penned “New Toy.” Lovich’s band consisted of her husband/guitarist/songwriting-partner Les Chappell and a male-female duo who provided all manner of synthesized accompaniment for a sort of thin, “lounge wave” sound--though the amplified sheet metal was a nice touch.

It’s a tribute to Lovich’s tilted talent that she transcended some of these limitations. Her occasional saxophone honks and vocal flights of fancy helped keep things interesting. And she remains an eccentric, enormously endearing performer who quickly had the audience in the palm of her hand. Too bad she didn’t do more with that opportunity. Lovich also plays the Palace on Wednesday.