If you’re generally on board with what the Indigo Girls stand for, but prefer their earthier side to their more ethereal sensibilities, you ought to catch Amy Ray doing her solo thing. And when you do, you’ll find that she’s really sort of a punk at heart, albeit a punk who finds room to maneuver without ever letting pop and country fundamentals completely out of her sight.
Lung of Love is the fourth studio album she’s made under her own name in a little over a decade. It has its sentimental moments, its David Bowie and Joe Strummer references, its riot grrrl cred (erstwhile members of The Butchies form the core of the band, and their old producer, Greg Griffith, is Ray’s producer) and even a down-home gospel song. Unlike more by-the-book gospel writers, Ray envisions Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit as a rock ’n’ roll band, tweaking the form just enough to make it subversively fun. Nothing wrong with that.
— Jewly Hight