Where’d You Get Those Peepers

Sara Lov really needs to grow up. Well, she at least needs to be as miserable as the rest of us. Her voice dips into notes that have not been heard since lullabies were hummed above our beds and now that we’re adults it’s all too much.

Lov wore an orange-sherbet dress at her last show at Spaceland, where she sang about bees stinging her and revenge. But she claims that it’s not the type of revenge we might think.

“It’s more how we feel when we’re rejected,” she said about the song A Thousand Bees, with it’s soulful chorus. “Somehow we want to get back at them for rejecting us and we want to show them how great we are, but by the time you get to that point, you don’t care anymore.”

The maturing process for Lov was a quick one. Born in Hawaii, Lov’s family moved to L.A. when she was three. But when her parent’s divorced she was kidnapped by her father and taken to Israel with her brother. Lov went to an elementary school in Israel and when she was returned to the America she lived in Minnesota.

“Of all places,” she adds.

But the chanteuse with her strawberry blonde hair holds onto a sense of optimism, whether it’s her fronting Devics or when it’s her turn with her solo work. Her EP The Young Eyes is somewhat about not wanting to mature like the rest of the world.

“When you’re young everything is new and exciting, but when you’re older things don’t impress you as easily. When you find something that makes you feel that sway it’s great - it almost makes you feel young again. It’s actually something that I’ve been thinking about for the last couple of years.”

Lov said something like this at her Spaceland residency. In the land of Silverlake one could expect a tidal waves of hipsters rolling their eyes, especially when an orange-sherbet wearing singer starts spouting about wanting to be young again.

Surprisingly, in the front row, were loyal listeners sitting Indian style on the floor, staring at Lov and eating all that she had to say. Even when the band went into the cover of Arcade Fire’s My Body Is A Cage and she had to tell the audience to be quiet, she did it the exact opposite way the rest of us would.

“Next time we’re going to strategically place shhs-ers next time – to ssshhh people.”

Lov’s voice aches with a sorrow that tells that she’s willing to play adult, but she’s not afraid to ssshhh. With Seasoned Eyes Were Beaming she’ll delight Tori Amos fans, but Lov isn’t about to straddle her piano just yet.

Solo wise Lov feels like she has to be a bit more on top of things.

“It doesn’t feel that different from Devics, but I think that without that partnership I get from that band, well I have to be a bit more responsible.”

Lov can never get enough from traveling she says. But now that she’s trying to look at the world with young eyes, hopefully she will never join the rest of the world in being grown up.

Sara Lov with HANDS at Spaceland, Silverlake Blvd. 1717, L.A. Tues. 9 p.m. $12. 21 and over. clubspaceland.com. Visit Sara at saralov.com.

By Nathan Solis