Inger Lorre album has celebrity ties

She writes songs about Courtney Love and Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers. She duets with the late Jeff Buckley on one track of her debut solo album. But despite all of Inger Lorre's celebrity connections, the real reason to listen to her album is her dynamic voice and genuine songwriting skills.

In the early '90s, Lorre led the controversial L.A. punk band the Nymphs, who were dropped from Geffen after Lorre urinated on the desk of an A&R executive. While such antics may have made her reputation, her new album Transcendental Medication is a much more personal affair. Throughout the album, Lorre tackles issues of addiction, obsession and jealousy in an unguarded, emotionally direct fashion.

If there is a guiding muse to Medication, it would have to be PJ Harvey. Lorre often apes her vocal range - as well as her tormented punk-blues feel - so well that songs like "Dusted" sound like outtakes from Rid Of Me. Not surprisingly, then, another key influence seems to be Patti Smith, especially on the folky "Sweet Release."

As for the rockstar songs, they suffer from a sense of tabloid exploitation. The Love ode, "She's Not Your Friend," has a compellingly haunted feel to its obsessive melody, but wallows in the same shallow pool as the recent "Kurt and Courtney" documentary. "Gibby Haynes Is Next" sounds like personal revenge. And the Buckley duet, "Thief Without the Take," is not the highlight it deserves to be, primarily because Lorre doesn't provide Buckley the space to spotlight his exquisite vocal talents.

Lorre is much better trusting her personal instincts, although she certainly knows that the publicity can't hurt. Even if she ends up riding others' coattails to fame, her album deserves to be listened to, and she has probably ensured exactly that.