REVIEW: Love Rarely - Pain Travels
- Laura Davies
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
LOVE RARELY were created in the Leeds alternative music scene in 2023. After touring the country with THE CALLOUS DAOBOYS and set to play at some of the UK’s biggest festivals, their debut album Pain Travels has come just at the right time to show what vulnerability can sound like surrounded by heavy music.
Exploding into the album is the opening track and single Will. A track that perfectly summarises what’s to come on the record. Indie-esque guitar riffs juxtaposed with harsh screams and melodic math-core moments showcasing the themes that will run through the album and giving a taste of influential bands such as PARAMORE and ROLO TOMASSI. The album is a complete blend of short songs filled with emotional fury laced with longer tracks that weave amongst emotionally complex themes. The former feels like angry interludes of emotional release amongst the cathartic lyrics of the latter songs. Vocalist Courtney Levitt sings the lyrics “Am I lost now? Where do we go?” in the song Severed, with pain and rawness flooding through the speakers whilst the next track I’ll Try leaves you feeling like you are on a rollercoaster of emotions as she screams “I’ll try, you’ll find out’.
The album touches on some heavy themes with moments spoken about generational trauma, toxicity of growing up in complex homes, and the band’s own personal experiences throughout their lives. It feels like an almost coming of age movie soundtrack where the actors are at their personal turning points, standing on the top of a hill screaming their emotions away. Guitarist Lew Taylor’s lyrics in the song Haunted feel wrapped in an aching sense of self reflection with the line “I’ve been haunted by you all my life, couldn’t leave you if I tried” layered amongst Levitt's screams.
As the album progresses you can definitely see that the album itself is mainly a DIY project, but for all the right reasons. With all band members writing their parts separately before coming together to form each track into what it is today, you can see that this messy and chaotic approach to songwriting and track building is testament to a band who can work so cohesively together to create something rather spectacular for a debut album.
Shorter songs Blame and Whiplash feel like LOVE RARELY songs that have been concentrated into pint sized songs that explode onto the speakers and feel like they are over as soon as they have started. They catapult us into the latter half of the album with Dormant where vocals and instruments feel a mix of softer and harsher at the same time, leaning into chaotic riffs and ghostly, almost haunting layers of vocals. Throughout Disappear the instruments begin to feel almost like an orchestra of sound as Levitt screams “I want to be something”.
By the time we reach the closing track Through Families the emotions feel like they have moved from fury to exhaustion. It ends with a melodic explosion as Levitt screams “how could we possibly be fine after this”. A truly cathartic ending to an emotionally fuelled album. Pain Travels feels like a ferocious emotional release full of vulnerabilities. It feels like an album of a band that has been doing this for a long time. It’s an uncomfortable listen that is full of chaotic energy, but in all the right ways that make for a brilliant album.
Score: 7/10
Pain Travels will be released on 10th April 2026 via Big Scary Monsters. Words: Laura Davies
Photos: Love Rarely
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