Album reviews: Lori McKenna deserves to be a country star; MSTRKRFT dances boldly with humor

COUNTRY

Lori McKenna, "The Bird and the Rifle" (Thirty Tigers)

Will McKenna become this year's Chris Stapleton, another country "overnight sensation" decades in the making?

Well, she certainly should be. Like Stapleton, the singer-songwriter from Stoughton, Mass., has written or co-written hits for a who's who of country music, including Hunter Hayes' chart-topping "I Want Crazy" and Little Big Town's Grammy-winning "Girl Crush." On her new album, McKenna works with producer Dave Cobb, who handled Stapleton's "Traveller." And, also like Stapleton, her album is filled with "real" country, genuine stories sung in her distinctive voice, including a song about whiskey.

Tim McGraw recently took her "Humble and Kind" to No. 1 on the country chart, but McKenna gives it her own more motherly spin here. However, crafting gorgeous sentiments is only one of McKenna's skills.

She's pretty straightforward about her thoughts on May-December romances in "Old Men, Young Women." "Old men, young women, only work in the beginning," she sings surrounded by the trappings of classic country. "She's the past in a summer dress, he's a ride in a red Corvette. She's a prize, he's winning."

In true country form, McKenna writes a lot about broken relationships, but they are filled with real, often flawed people. It's clear what side she's on in the title track, which tells the story of a dysfunctional couple, but she tries to explain where each side is coming from. The details she uses in "Wreck You," right down to the change in the car's ashtray, or "We Were Cool," where she recalls where the relationship was when Duran Duran's "Wild Boys" and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" were playing in their car, are what makes her one of the best songwriters in country music right now.

GLENN GAMBOA, Newsday

POP/ROCK

MSTRKRFT, "Operator" (Last Gang)

Like Daft Punk without helmets, Air without cravats and Justice without having to lug around that heavy cross, the two members of MSTRKRFT — Death From Above 1979's Jesse F. Keeler and producer Al-P — make electronic dance-punk with twists of metal and soul, to say nothing of a sense of humor.

With its lively analog synths set to stun and its tin rhythms pounding, "Operator" has the sound of a funny, dirty, DIY affair. "Little Red Hen" is nasty, squelchy and repetitious, with cheap, early house music high-hats and more video-game belches than Pokémon Go. Those same cymbals are given a ride on the chintzy industrial affair "Priceless," with Angel Hair vocalist Sonny Kay coming across like a discount Trent Reznor. That's a compliment.

The rubber bandy "Runaway" and the scorched-earth "Go on Without Me" are similar in terror-tone to "Priceless," yet for all the screaming and aggro-industrialism, the overall effect of "Operator" is still cool, bold and bright, with touches of presumably tongue-in-cheek humor.

A.D. AmOROSI, Philadelphia Inquirer