record reviews

Kenny Chesney

Album: “Cosmic Hallelujah”

Grade: B

Kenny Chesney’s new CD is his 17th studio album and it finds the country superstar sounding a little like a 17-year-old – caught between wild abandonment and moodiness.

The 11-song “Cosmic Hallelujah” is mature and also a little goofy. It pushes the boundaries of country and yet makes sure to come home for a comforting twang. It worries about the world and yet also blows it off. “I’s overexistentializin’ my redneck,” he sings happily.

“Cosmic Hallelujah” was supposed to come out last summer and it was going to be called something else. A new duet with Pink, “Setting the World on Fire” – an up-tempo party tune in the vein of Sheryl Crow “All I Wanna Do” – forced Chesney to reevaluate.

After some frantic recording, the album that emerged is rich and varied, looking outward and also holed up at a bar. Beer is mentioned in five songs, whiskey in another and both are probably part of a toast on the last song, the respectful “Coach.”

Most intriguing are a pair of strong songs in which Chesney worries about society. “In the streets, in the crowds, it ain’t nothing but noise/Drowning out all the dreams of this Tennessee boy,” he sings on “Noise.”

On “Rich and Miserable,” his target is consumption: “We don’t know what we want, but we want it/And we want it all right now.”

— Mark Kennedy, Associated Press

Tove Lo

Album: “Lady Wood”

Grade: B

Pop singer Tove Lo warns us at the very top of her strong sophomore album that maybe we shouldn’t always believe her. “You know I’m under the influence/So don’t trust every word I say,” she sings.

And, after that warning, we’re off on a deliciously murky trip into dark club music led by a Swede who clearly likes to get high, be real and swear effortlessly. “Lady Wood” is as close to a punk EDM album as possible.

Lo has been making a name for herself for her chill synth pop and honest lyrics. Her 2014 debut, “Queen of the Clouds,” gave us the hits “Habits [Stay High]” and “Talking Body.”

She also gained attention as the co-writer of Ellie Goulding’s “Love Me Like You Do,” earning herself Grammy and Golden Globe nominations.

Her new CD, which she co-wrote, is broken into two, five-track songs that start at the party and end in a hangover.

The album kicks off with the Britney Spears-sounding “Influence,” which gets a welcome assist from Wiz Khalifa. The crash comes with the last five songs, all more mature and weary.

— Mark Kennedy, Associated Press