The opening track of Allison Russell’s highly anticipated second album sets the scene like a foreword. Or a manifesto. A roomful of voices, literal laughter, and a melody that sounds like a folk tune from some ancient corner of the British Isles, catapulted forward through layers of wild electric guitar and a head-bouncing beat to land somewhere joyful and very, very now.
Russell has never trapped herself in a genre box, but there’s something audacious in the way The Returner skips about picking a bouquet of disco, funk, soul, even a lean towards new wave in “Shadowlands,” along with the notes of gospel, old-time and country familiar from her discography to date. In a hyper-globalised, ultra-connected world, style is a curation of elements from any era and any place; what gets chosen and how it’s put together distinguishes an artist, and Russell continues to find a combination and expression that is uniquely hers.
Russell’s signature taste for romantic, swelling strings is present across the record, bringing a sensuality that is mirrored in the gorgeous styling, and luscious cover artwork (Dana Trippe and Jesse Ujazi). The sound of people singing together is another constant texture. Songs like “Rag Child” and “Snakelife” have the quality of a lone voice out walking, or working, or self-soothing — like spirituals. Russell and her “Rainbow Coalition” of thirteen female-identifying musicians surround these tunes with an abundance of instrumental tones, and thick, warm harmonies. The individual is transcended, is located in community – like gospel. The album was apparently written rhythm first, and again, variety is what propels each song into its own sonic orbit, thanks to the imagination and skill of bass players Ganessa James and Wendy Melvoin, and drummers/percussionists Meg Coleman, Wiktoria Bialic and Elizabeth Pupo-Walker.
The breadth of Russell’s palette feels like a reclamation, reminding us of how and why all these genres and grooves exist. It also feels like a rebellion against divisions and borders. It’s queer, it’s decolonising, and it’s utterly joyful. Which is not to say, sugar-coated. She’s through her own tunnel, but Russell is clear about the darkness that remains. “Eve Was Black” is a no-punches-pulled challenge to those of us “pale kin” to fight it in the world and in ourselves, while Russell’s ever intensifying vocal feels like an exhortation to stand your ground in your truth, and to speak that truth to power.
If you think of Russell’s debut, Outside Child as following the folk tradition of ballads and laments; stories sung as catharsis, and warning, then The Returner is the other branch of the trad tree; dance music. It’s music that moves you, built on its rhythms and shared as an act of togetherness, to lift the soul. In the album’s finale, Requiem moves us up and out, onto the open road, into the vast expanse of the land. It’s an Americana anthem of hope and possibility from one of country’s current queens, and it closes a record that will no doubt see Allison Russell continue her reign for many moons to come.
The Returner will be available everywhere tomorrow, September 8th. You can pre-save it or pre-order it here.