Dolores O’Riordan

No Baggage (Zoe)

By Selena Fragassi
Published: September 18th, 2009 | 12:00am

On the cover image for her second solo release, No Baggage, Dolores O’Riordan shows off a newly shorn blonde pixie cut — a rearview reflection of the look she owned as the frontwoman of the hugely successful Irish import, the Cranberries. However, aesthetics aside, don’t get your hopes up for a Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? (Island, 1993) repeat — there’s nothing on this latest album that could come close to replicating the sound that many ‘Berry picking fans may be hunting after. In fact, O’Riordan’s lonesome pose on a stool in the middle of a frozen pond couldn’t be more suggestive of her lone trek into a subdued side of countryside folk hymns, which is largely dismissed in her familiar ‘90s work and even on her first solo venture, 2007’s Are You Listening? (Sanctuary).

It’s not that the 11 tracks aren’t trying; O’Riordan’s breathy pitch is in perfect form, the lyrics (although not as politically or personally rich) still interesting. The problem is that there’s nothing to grab on to sonically. No melodic splendor of the Cranberries' “Dreams” or “Linger.” No symphony crescendo of “In the Garden,” or magnetic hook of “Ordinary Day” from the solo debut. The first two tracks, “Switch Off the Moment” and “Skeleton,” give some hope of dueling density, but it’s quickly dashed by a mud puddle of middle tracks that rely on television soundtrack arcs to equate a forced sense of drama. “It’s You” is a song that could appear while a forlorn Meredith Grey looks out her window to find McDreamy on her doorstep; “Stupid,” the song when he tells her he’s found someone else and leaves her crying on a pillow.

It’s hard to believe this contemporary material comes from the same singer that once took a Sinead O’Connor–inspired stance against homeland civil unrest. Whether new territory or just an experimental departure, O’Riordan’s voice shows itself off as the trophy wife in this unlikely union, no more so than on near-end track “Lunatic.” If you stick to the beginning and end of No Baggage, it’s a near success. It’s just those pesky mid-season chapters that need a new storyline.

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