The Lemonheads Love Chant
The Lemonheads's Love Chant arrives as a rueful, often rewarding return that threads nostalgia and restless experimentation into a loose, lived-in collection. Across eight professional reviews the record earned a 58.33/100 consensus score, and critics consistently point to a handful of tracks that crystallize its strengths: “In the Margin”, “Deep End”, “Cell Phone Blues” and “58 Second Song”. Those songs function as the album's anchors, alternating between worn vocal intimacy, melodic punch and splashes of guest-driven fire from collaborators such as J Mascis and Juliana Hatfield.
Professional reviews praise the record's uneasy balance of melancholic slacker pop and genre-shifting ambition. Critics note moments of emotional reflection and quiet redemption where Dando's roughened delivery lends authenticity, with “In the Margin” repeatedly singled out for its confessional clarity and “Deep End” for its muscular, hook-forward payoff. At the same time several reviewers flag uneven ambition and rough production - the record favors adventurous ideas over polish, so songs reward repeated listens rather than instant hooks. Reviewers consistently reference nostalgic threads and collaborations that tether the album to The Lemonheads' past while pointing toward renewed urgency.
Taken together the critical consensus frames Love Chant as a mixed but interesting entry in the band's catalog: not a flawless comeback, but a collection with standout tracks and moments of genuine feeling. For readers searching for an answer to "is Love Chant good" the consensus suggests value for longtime fans and those intrigued by genre fusion and worn, vulnerable songwriting; the best songs on Love Chant make the record worth exploring further.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
In the Margin
7 mentions
"“In The Margin” also sounds more akin to The Lemonheads Taang! Records era"— Glide Magazine
Cell Phone Blues
5 mentions
"It’s easily one of the record’s standout tracks."— Glide Magazine
Deep End
7 mentions
"“Deep End” is faster with heavier guitar and sounds like it could have fit nicely on an earlier record"— Glide Magazine
“In The Margin” also sounds more akin to The Lemonheads Taang! Records era
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
58 Second Song
Deep End
In the Margin
Wild Thing
Be-In
Cell Phone Blues
Togetherness Is All I'm After
Marauders
Love Chant
The Key of Victory
Roky
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 8 critics who reviewed this album
Cl
Critic's Take
In a chatty, rueful tone that fits him, The Lemonheads frontman makes Love Chant feel like a lived-in comeback, where the best songs - notably “58 Second Song” and “In the Margin” - capture both mischief and adult reflection. The record is a maelstrom of melody and marauding guitars, and songs like “58 Second Song” set the stall out with whimsical, weird energy. Elsewhere “In the Margin” shows Dando’s softer, confessional side, the lyrics lodging themselves in the periphery. It is, in short, an album that sounds adolescent and grown-up at once, and those two tracks best illustrate why the best songs on Love Chant land so memorably.
Key Points
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The best song is “58 Second Song” because it frames the album’s whimsical, weird, and rocking upside-down world.
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The album’s core strengths are its melodic immediacy and a lived-in mix of adolescent impulse and grown-up reflection.
Critic's Take
The Lemonheads return on Love Chant with a modest, lived-in set where the best tracks - “In the Margin” and “Deep End” - read like postcards from an internal road trip. The reviewer’s tone is intimate and rueful, noting clean melodies and subtle guitar textures that make those best songs stick. There is less sparkle and more ache here, which suits Dando’s rougher delivery and lets quieter moments breathe. The result is a breezy, emotionally rich record that sidesteps calculated comeback moves and instead offers small, resonant moments for long-time listeners.
Key Points
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The best song(s) like "In the Margin" succeed by marrying reflective lyricism with melodic hooks that linger.
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The album’s core strengths are Dando’s lived-in vocals, clean melodies, and subtle instrumental textures that favor quiet emotional resonance.
Themes
Critic's Take
The Lemonheads return with Love Chant, an unexpectedly vital album whose best songs are plainly the irresistible “Cell Phone Blues”, the gorgeous “Togetherness Is All I’m After” and the rich “Deep End”. Everett True writes with giddy admiration, noting hooks, mini-operas and Dando’s deepened voice that makes songs like “In The Margin” and “Deep End” knee-buckling. The record feels fun, frantic and perfectly crafted, the kind of comeback that sits comfortably alongside 1993’s Come On Feel The Lemonheads. Collaborative sparks from J Mascis, Juliana Hatfield and others make these best tracks stand out as the album’s core triumphs.
Key Points
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Togetherness Is All I’m After is the best song due to its opening, Mascis solo, and Dando’s expressive vocals.
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The album’s core strengths are hooks, genre-blending songwriting, warm collaborations, and Dando’s deepened voice.
Themes
Critic's Take
Evan Dando steers The Lemonheads through a deliberately unruly set on Love Chant, and the review keeps returning to the record's best tracks - notably Deep End and the title track Love Chant - as moments where his oddball instincts pay off. The writer’s voice privileges curiosity over polish, praising how Deep End explodes into bouncing guitar rock while the title track channels abrasive repetition like the Replacements covering Neu!. The piece frames these songs as highlights because they crystallize Dando’s willingness to change gears midstream and favor adventurous ideas over safe nostalgia. The overall tone is measured but warm, suggesting that the best tracks on Love Chant reward repeated listens rather than instant gratification.
Key Points
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The best song, Deep End, succeeds because its bouncing, explosive guitar rock channels Dando's melodic instincts into an immediate thrill.
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The album's core strength is adventurous, genre-shifting experimentation that rewards repeated listens despite uneven execution.
Themes
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Critic's Take
In his amiable, slightly rueful tone Tom Taylor frames The Lemonheads's Love Chant as a fitting, slacker-tinged return that charms more than it shocks. He singles out “Cell Phone Blues” as the defining song and praises the breezy opening of “58 Second Song” while noting the record rarely demands attention. Taylor's language is warm and measured, admiring the unpolished, stoned McCartney melodicism and the comforts of familiar collaborators. For listeners searching for the best songs on Love Chant, his verdict points to “Cell Phone Blues” and the effortless momentum of “58 Second Song” as highlights worth seeking out.
Key Points
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The reviewer names \"Cell Phone Blues\" the defining, standout track, giving it highest praise.
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The album's core strengths are its breezy, unpolished songwriting, nostalgic slacker charm, and collaborative warmth.
Themes
Critic's Take
The Lemonheads return with Love Chant, an album that folds their punk past into tuneful power-pop, and the best songs - notably Cell Phone Blues and The Key of Victory - show why the band still matters. The review’s voice lingers on muscular guitar work and guest turns, especially J Mascis’s blistering solos that punctuate tracks like Deep End and The Key of Victory. There are throwaways and outliers, but songs such as Cell Phone Blues and the infectious opener 58 Second Song make clear which are the best tracks on Love Chant and why repeated listens reward the listener.
Key Points
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“Cell Phone Blues” is the best song because it is described as a lively singalong and a clear standout.
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The album’s core strength is its impressive blending of punk energy and melodic power-pop, buoyed by guest guitar work.
Themes
Critic's Take
In his weathered, observant tone Andrew Male presents The Lemonheads and Love Chant as a record of scrappy, vulnerable resurrection, where the best songs - “In The Margin” and “Roky” - cut the deepest. He praises “In The Margin” as the one Dando composition delivered with "complete ease and self-belief", a modern Evan confronting old Evan, while “Roky” is held up as "gloriously euphoric melancholy" that turns relapse into defiant escape. Male also flags bright opener “58 Second Song” as brisk, bittersweet power pop, cementing these as the best tracks on Love Chant by virtue of emotional clarity and muscular phrasing.
Key Points
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The best song is "In The Margin" because it is delivered with complete ease and self-belief and crystallizes emotional clarity.
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The album's core strengths are vulnerable songwriting and a loose, exuberant sound that frames escape and recovery.
Themes
Critic's Take
On Love Chant The Lemonheads find a loose, untamed charm that makes the best tracks stand out. The opener “58 Second Song” captures the slacker-pop breeziness that defined them, while “Deep End” benefits from Juliana Hatfield and J Mascis to become one of the album's most invigorating moments. The title track “Love Chant” turns motorik propulsion into a psychedelic manifesto, and the closing “Roky” saves Dando's strongest vocal turn for last. These are the best songs on Love Chant, balancing dishevelled charisma with adventurous, sometimes strange arrangements.
Key Points
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The opener “58 Second Song” best channels Lemonheads' classic slacker-pop while still feeling fresh.
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The album’s core strengths are Dando’s dishevelled charm and a willingness to expand into psychedelic and experimental textures.