Sadie Gustafson-Zook has an intriguingly off-kilter worldview on Where I Want to Be. This is an album for anyone who’s ever felt out of place — and could use the reassurance that they’re not the only one. Here, Gustafson-Zook demonstrates why she won the Kerrville Folk Festival’s 2022 New Folk Contest, placed second at the Rocky Mountain Folk Fest’s Songwriter Showcase, and won first place at the NewSong + LEAF Songwriting Contest.
It’s not just that Gustafson-Zook has a quirky writerly voice. As a singer, her performance is startlingly clear and warm — a call-back to lounge chanteuses, though the awkwardness of Gustafson-Zook’s narrators creates an intriguing contrast between the people we think the are and the actual reality.
That’s painfully clear in “Break the Ice,” about meeting a fellow artist for whom one has admiration and respect…and you just can’t help but fall over yourself with awkwardness. Turning that moment of social anxiety into art is the superpower of Where I Want to Be.
Similarly, “Bring This Up” is a humorous ditty about being rejected by a crush who may or may not be gay. We get the sense that the narrator’s internal monologue is busily raising objections and questions, trying to soften the blow to a rapidly bruising ego.
“Girl On My Shoulder” changes the narrative around. Rather than making light of these foibles, Gustafson-Zook instead questions why this anxiety exists at all. “Girl On My Shoulder” is a powerful statement about taking cues from one’s inner child and relearning the fearlessness and curiosity we used to have, allowing the child, at least this once, to care for the adult.
This is not a lesson delivered with a sermon, but rather a wry chuckle as Gustafson-Zook laughs at herself, and invites us to do the same.
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