Since releasing her ‘Who Believes in Angels?’ collaboration with Elton John earlier this year, Brandi Carlile’s star has never been brighter. Lesser mortals would have some time off after such a publicity blitz (and her UK/EU tour in July) but when has Brandi Carlile ever known how to slow down and smell the roses? ‘Returning to Myself’ is her way of stepping out of the shadows of her famous friends and looking at herself in the mirror.
After her success with Elton, Brandi has reached a new level of name recognition in the UK, and even the BBC news site featured her on album release day (albeit with the Joni connection being the lead). You can’t blame her then for wanting to capitalise on that increased profile.
After announcing a UK arena tour too you might expect this album to ‘Swing for the Fences’ so to speak. Instead we have something overall that feels quieter, singular and searching. The country/Americana influence that was central to the sound of her work with Tanya Tucker and the Highwomen is nowhere to be found. Dave Cobb and Shooter Jennings, producers of her last two records, have been replaced by indie rock icons Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon alongside the young Andrew Watt who worked on her Elton album.
So this ‘Returning to Myself’ is stripping away all of those layers of her past and trying to find herself. On the title track she concludes that seeking the inner loneliness sometimes is necessary. There’s a sparseness to the song, letting her voice become the centre. She writes this one solo as well.
However her band mates, the Hanseroth twins, aren’t completely absent from the record. The are credited with songwriting on ‘Human’, which is a beautiful, epic number about accepting the flaws in ourselves and our communities plus ‘Church and State’ which has a pulsating beat like it could have been on the Joshua Tree. On the latter one Brandi sings of the horror of the second Trump era, trying to reckon with the new reality.
The rest of the album has a somewhat downbeat tone, perhaps a kind of reflection of this time in history or perhaps suggesting something in her personal life has been sacrificed for success. While Brandi has been quick to deny any possibility that this is a divorce record there is an unease to the songs about her relationships. ‘A Woman Oversees’ is a play on words tribute to her English wife, where she goes with her on a journey but ends up sounding somewhat adrift. On the beautiful ‘A War With Time’ she finds herself ‘standing in an open door’ offering her love a chance to ‘just go’. What could have been a celebration of the past on ‘Anniversary’ fades away to become ‘just another day’.
Some harsh critics may see the song ‘Joni’ as further milking of her famous friends for attention but there’s something quite revelatory about her decision to record the song. This is more than a tribute – this is an unabashed love song. Sadly the melody doesn’t quite reach the heights of its subject matter.
The poignant ode to parenting, ‘You Without Me’, already featured on her album with Elton so it feels a little unnecessary in this streaming age to have it feature again – even if it does fit well with the introspective theme of the tracks.
By the end of the album on ‘A Long Goodbye’ she looks back on her life before meeting her wife, and concludes ‘I only had to lose my way / To be found by you.’ She accepts the tumultuous nature of love and the fact that ‘in a moment everything could change’.
Overall ‘Returning to Myself’ lets Brandi show a more vulnerable, darker side to her music. Some fans who prefer the bombastic, confident, crowded table, country side of Brandi may end up disappointed. But if those fans are willing just to sit down beside her and listen quietly, they will find much to enjoy here.
Where Brandi goes next is anyone’s guess – another Highwomen record is well overdue – but she’s unlikely to be slowing down any time soon.
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