There’s nothing wrong with a good love song.  As my Nana used to say, “Reverbo, si juegas esa basura Kennedys Muerta una vez más voy a poner mi cabeza en el horno y encender el gas lo juro por Dios!”  Then she would prance around the kitchen holding a plate of arroz con pollo above her head.

The best love songs are not about True Love. The best songs are about dreams of love, crushes, I love you but you don’t love me, and break ups. Kathleen Smith writes about love in the great tradition of one who has not quite found it yet.

Kathleen’s happy love songs are reserved for objects. She loves New York City, chocolate, and tin foil. But her songs about human interactions carry the sad, misty innocence of a day before text messages and Snapchat, when love notes were passed in the hallway, not on Twitter.

In “Sweet Tune,” she dances with her lover, but only in a dream. It is sung with the wistfulness of a high school girl doodling a boy’s name in her notebook, blending today’s emptiness with childhood memories of Cinderella waltzing with the Prince.

In “Waiting Around” she is, well, perpetually waiting for someone. Waiting for someone to save the day, waiting for someone to stay.  “All my life I have waited for you…” Does this person exist, or is she waiting for a chimera whose name is scrawled on the back of a forgotten three-ring binder?

Kathleen’s strength is her sincerity. When she sings, “I keep coming back to you / Even though you try to change me” (in “You Try”) we believe that this has actually happened to her and we feel her sadness. With “Here’s Your Song” the result is jarring. Her anger is unfiltered and scary. ”Don’t expect a ride from the airport tomorrow” is pretty much the worst thing you can tell a person.

“I Love NY” (available on Soundcloud) belongs in a Broadway musical of two generations past, when it was OK to wear a polka-dot dress and ride a Schwinn bicycle. None of today’s cooler-than-thou indie musicians could get away with singing “Here’s a little ditty / About my favorite city.” Kathleen pulls off the couplet with a straight face because she really does love New York! And we believe it!

Kathleen’s previous releases include Dolls (2008), Live at the Sidewalk Cafe (2010), and “Sweet Tune” (single, 2011).  Her new studio album, Love Superstar!, produced by 3-time Grammy award winner Trina Shoemaker, is set for release in late 2013.

Kathleen Smith’s music is available through iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp, and Soundcloud.

Visit Kathleen’s homepage, and join her on Facebook and Twitter.

Bonus Tracks: Chocolate and Tin Foil are not known for returning unconditional love, but they’ve never let anyone down, either.