Peace And Love, Juliana Hatfield’s latest album, will be released on February 16, 2010 on Ye Olde Records. Hatfield, of course, has a long history of DIY endeavors – from her trailblazing days with Boston indie band the Blake Babies to her recent releases on Ye Olde Records, the label she founded in 2005 – but with Peace And Love she reaches a new level of independence. She produced and engineered the album herself and played all the instruments, including acoustic and electric guitars, piano, harmonica and drum machine. “I’ve produced records before but I was always in a studio with professional engineers. So it was definitely a learning process for me,” says Hatfield, who was ready to strip things down after her critically acclaimed 2008 album, How To Walk Away, which was a full studio production. “I always like to try things I’ve never done before and I’d been yearning to record myself.” Hatfield had just purchased her brother’s eight-track digital recorder and moved into a Cambridge apartment with a back room that had excellent natural acoustics, so the time was right. “I was able to follow every instinct without worrying that anyone was going to think it was a kooky idea,” she recalls. “I just wanted to do something simple.” The result is an incredibly intimate collection of songs, expertly capturing the loneliness and collateral damage borne of broken relationships yet adamantly refusing to remain broken. In the liner notes, Boston Phoenix music editor James Parker gives it a name: “Survivor-music – because even at their most palpitatingly fragile, your songs have always been built to last. Well-made, strong-boned, fit to be played on streetcorners and station platforms.” Just as Hatfield stripped down the recording process, the characters that populate Peace And Love are ready to shed their convoluted lives. The lilting “Why Can’t We Love Each Other” answers its own question by acknowledging that love is a choice: “we can make our lives a song/will it be a blues or a hymn/a dirge or a psalm/it could be so simple.” But there’s the rub, of course: it could be so simple…if it weren’t for our propensity to muck things up. From the plucked Elizabethan chords that introduce the opening “Peace And Love” and the feedback-drenched “What Is Wrong” to “Unsung,” Hatfield’s first-ever instrumental, and the closing “Dear Anonymous,” written from the point of view of a victim who finds empathy for her stalker, the collection is both compelling and surprising. “Faith In Our Friends” celebrates those who “think you’re just right the way you are” while Hatfield gains fresh perspective on her complex relationship with longtime friend Evan Dando on the exquisite, ethereal “Evan.” Peace And Love is Hatfield’s 11th solo album and follows last year’s How To Walk Away, which was hailed as “rueful and gorgeous,” by Entertainment Weekly, which gave the album an A-. “After 20 years, the songstress still packs a wallop on her 10th album, featuring edgy tales of heartbreak sung with that classic sweetness,” said Newsweek, naming it a “Checklist” pick of the week upon its release while Spin pronounced it “vital,” awarding it three out of four stars. Her autobiography, entitled When I Grow Up, was published by Wiley & Sons in September 2008.

I just love Juliana Hatfield … the woman writes and records so much music that she offers up the songs that don’t make it on her albums on her official website for downloaders to pay whatever they feel is fair. In the past couple of years she has made at least 4 albums worth of material available to fans in this way. I cannot wait to hear what this new batch of songs sounds like. After the jump, check out the tracklist for Peace and Love …

01. Peace and Love
02. The End Of The War
03. Why Can’t We Love Each Other
04. Butterflies
05. What Is Wrong
06. Unsung
07. Evan
08. Let’s Go Home
09. I Picked You Up
10. Faith In Our Friends
11. I’m Disappearing
12. Dear Anonymous

12 more songs … I can’t wait!! Are there any Juliana fans out there? Hollaback, yo!

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It was a really great event … I loved that she was so open about her writing and was so willing to share even more of her than she does with just her music. I got her to sign my book and we chatted a bit about how I personally attended two of the concerts that she wrote about in her book. She also posed for a very pretty Polaroid photo for my collection … all in all, it was a great night. Book Soup, I must add, is a kickass bookstore. The staff are so knowledgeable and friendly … I ended up picking up a few books while I was there. If you’re in LA and you’ve never been there, you should check it out … it’s a great space.

After the book signing, I met up with Darion at Century City to see Eagle Eye:

While I didn’t really love the film, I can’t say that I hated it either. It was great up until the end … when you realize what is going on, then the whole things starts to fall apart. It’s action-packed and exciting … so we had fun but it’s nothing spectacular. Think War Games for the new generation … which makes me wonder if all of Shia LaBeof’s movies have to be remakes (ie. Disturbia was basically a remake of Rear Window). While I had a good time, it’s not a movie I need to see again. If you suspend all belief, I think y’all might enjoy it. At the very least, it provides a fun thrill ride. I must warn you, watch out for Billy Bob Thornton’s teeth … they are ginormous and wholly distracting. If you see the film, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

So yeah … it was fun hangin out with Darion last night:

We tend to have fun when we hang out. Tonight, I’m meeting up with D and Kirsten for a reunion dinner of sorts … you know we’re going to Chili’s to help raise funds for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital so … should be fun.

Her publisher sent me a preview copy of her book a couple of months ago but I just got around to finishing it this week. I’ve been reading a few books at the same time and this one was one that I simply had to finish. After reading this memoir, Juliana Hatfield makes so much more sense to me know. In her songs she always appeared very happy-go-lucky but in person she always seemed … well, not happy at all. In her bare bones tome, she explains why that is so. She is totally open to exposing all of her flaws, unabashedly writing about her feelings and insecurities despite the fact that she is an insecure person. She finds power in her pen, in her words and writes about how that power has kept her going all these years, even after her fame has diminished over time (many of you may not even know who she is at this point, which is a shame because she is a brilliant musician … I urge you to check her out). In her memoir, she talks specifically about 2 shows that I was at … litterally, I’m reading her words going “OMG, I was there!” It’s pretty neat.

Two of these photos are from the shows that she described in the book (Cleveland, OH and St. Louis, MO) and the other is from a show she did in Ann Arbor, MI. I can’t stress enough how much I really enjoy Juliana’s work … she was selling her own music online way before Radiohead or NIN did (doing so by way of an honor system, trusting that fans would pay for songs they downloaded). She used some of that money to fund her newest album, How To Walk Away (which was just released last Tuesday).

Juliana enjoyed a pretty good run of success (appearing on My So-Called Life, on soundtracks to major motion pictures and having her videos labeled “buzz clips” on MTV back when MTV played videos often) and writes openly about how difficult it is to maintain a music career when that fame fades. I now have even more respect for the woman and her art. I really hope that those of you who are/were fans of hers will check out her new stuff … you’ll be happy to know she hasn’t lost a thing. If you’re not familiar with her work, check her out … you’ll be impressed, I promise.

There is something to be said about real talent and real dedication to one’s art. Juliana Hatfield deserves much for continuing to grace the world with her talents. I for one am very appreciative of her efforts.