Amy Annelle

Amy Annelle -- The Toll

Amy Annelle transports us into a timeless, fractured world on The Toll. This collection of hushed, probing folk music mourns the loss of people who enter our lives, make them better and, for seemingly no reason at all, leave us crushed in their wake. It’s also a moment to reflect on the ways the life of a touring musician bend relationships until they sometimes break.

Annelle‘s voice is arresting, asking us to hearken to a time when music was not meant for arenas, but rather for the back porch. There’s an off-kilter sensibility here, as if the world portrayed in The Toll is just slightly ajar from our own — but, of course, love and loss are recognizable anywhere. For Annelle, at least, these songs recall classic country torch tunes with just a slight twist to remind us that those old notions of love and respectability never mattered all that much.

“Common Law Marriage” takes that theme and gives it a cheeky twist, but “The Gate” solemnly observes the sacrifices and triumphs of those who choose the artist’s path. Meanwhile, “The Ballad of Fire Water” explores what happens when two people who are polar opposites try to make things work. Overall, The Toll explores loss and abandonment with a gentle curiosity, reeling from disbelief but also pushing deeper asking always — why?

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