Having trouble coping post-breakup? Grab some Kleenex, a bottle of win, and release your tears. These heart-wrenching albums are both cathartic and empowering. Feist, Williams, Wilco and Adams all croon the same message: you are not alone in your pain.
1) Feist, Let It Die
Leslie Feist offers the heart-broken listener simple (albeit difficult to accept) advice: don’t hold on to a broken relationship, just Let It Die. The indie rocker’s sensual, milky voice heightens both the intensity and fluidity of the album, from the jazzy “One Evening” to the haunting “Lonely Lonely.” Through the course of the album, the listener will become intimately acquainted with the “Secret Heart” of Feist.
2) Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
The lyrical rawness characteristic of Lucinda Williams is what gives Car Wheels on a Gravel Road its emotional strength. Williams’ album is effectively grounded in altcountry roots, as exemplified in the rugged nonchalance of “2 Cool 2 Be 4-Gotten” and the whiskey-laden twang of “Greenville.”
3) Wilco, Summerteeth
From the schizoid frustration of “Can’t Stand It,” to the melancholic sarcasm of “How to Fight Loneliness,” Summerteeth embodies the bitterness commonly experienced after the loss of a lover. As frontman Jeff Tweedy pathetically croons, “Maybe all I need is a shot in the arm.”
4) Ryan Adams, Love is Hell
As evident in the album’s title, Love is Hell proves to the listener that love ain’t a cakewalk. From the anguish of “I See Monsters” to Adams’ tortured rendition of “Wonderwall,” the indie wunderkind brilliantly captures the emotional rollercoaster of love.
