ALBUM REVIEW: Lola Kirke Leans All the Way In on ‘Country Curious’ EP

Lola Kirke has long been dipping a toe in country music, but beyond what its title, Country Curious, suggests, her new EP is a cannonball into the deep end. Kirke is more than just curious, she is enthusiastically wrapping her arms around the genre across the four new songs on this outing, which follows her 2022 album Lady For Sale. The latter hinted at more to come in this realm with big, ’90s-inspired jaunts like “Pink Sky” and “Stay Drunk,” and for Country Curious, she’s lassoed some Nashville greats, including Rosanne Cash and Aaron Raitiere, plus Elle King at the producing helm, to help her get there.

Equal parts full-throated and kittenish, Kirke’s voice summons all the swagger of the best country vocalists. With “All My Exes Live in LA” she finds the sweet spot between humor and heartache, joined by First Aid Kit’s lovely harmonies. “Runnin’ from the city like a bat out of Beverly Hills,” she drawls, recalling her escape from a slew of past types — the cowboy, the suit, the one who wears sunglasses inside. “I’m’a make like George and head Strait for the mountains or the desert or my mama’s or anywhere else.”

Kirke masters one of the hardest things to do in a country song: getting a laugh as she’s tugging on your heartstrings by wrapping perfectly clever lyrics in shiny melodies. “He Says Y’all” follows suit, chronicling her full transformation from NYC gal to country queen set to a blast of a honky-tonk arrangement of fiddle and pedal steel.

Country Curious is pleasingly empowering, literally and sonically taking up space. Kirke revels in her independence on “My House,” a song about doing whatever you like within your own walls, and on the coolly stunning Cash-assisted “Karma,” which finds her moving on from a no-good scoundrel. But above all, the fun she’s having forming her identity as a country artist can be heard in every note.

Lola Kirke’s Country Curious EP is out Feb. 16 on One Riot Records.