On her recent appearance on the lovely ‘Playing Along with Norah Jones’ podcast Allison Russell described her favourite part of making music as ‘the collaboration’, calling her fellow musicians on this new album ‘In the Hour of Chaos’ a ‘rainbow coalition’.
Allison begins her third solo album by singing an ode to the ‘Rainbow’, offering herself a reminder to keep hold of her childhood innocence, knowing as an adult that’s ‘it’s not easy to keep all seven colours in your mind’. The song sets the tone for an album that understands the pain of the world, and seeks solace through connection and celebration.
The rest of the album is a diverse roll call of black excellence, giving a voice to other artists and singers who resonate with her hopeful musical mission. First up is ‘No Springtime’ with Joy Oladokun and Julie Williams, young voices who sound wonderful together. There’s a reminder that ‘there’s no springtime in the blues’ and a sense of shared empathy with how sometimes everyone finds themselves ‘looping’ through bad times.
To me ‘Cold April’ is one of the best songs she’s ever recorded, funky and catchy with a message that cuts to the heart: ‘there’s no enough bullets, not enough guns / they can kill the bird but not the birdsong’. Usually I’m against child choirs for being too twee or sentimental but in this case the Explore Pop! Choir add energy and welcome sass to the song. Vocals from wonderful Kara Jackson and Denitia add further dimension to the song’s uplifting tone.
A few years back there was an admirable push to try and break through more black voices in country and Americana music, which Allison was an important part of. One of the few artists who were aiming for the country mainstream was Brittney Spencer who duets on ‘Black Lavender’, (she also appeared on the recent Highwomen live album). Here Brittany’s velvet vocals offer us a soulful song of resilience and strength for a ‘black swan’ who has been unappreciated and overlooked.
The quieter moments on this album really resonate too, like on ‘Really Real’ which features Norah Jones and an outstanding vocal performance from Allison, one of her absolute best ever.
Other guests appearing on the record include Ruby Amanfu (who I saw support Jason Isbell in Nashville a few years back) on the echoing epic ‘Just Like Saturday’. Wonderful Kyshona features on ‘Chaos Theory’ alongside I’m With Her’s Sara Watkins. This one is another stand out on the album, a reminder that in the ‘hour of chaos’ and ‘despair’ that music and love can reach out a hand for us.
What gives the last few songs on the album a different dimension is the fact she has included new male artists too including Devon Gilfillian on the gorgeous ‘Love is a Golden Lion’, Kashus Culpepper on the bluesy ‘Searchlight’ and her Hadestown co-star Chibueze Ihuoma on the dreamy ‘Two Stars’. The album ends with the sound of Ahya Simone’s harp on ‘Good Omens’ with Allison’s vocals weaving a beautifully hypnotic spell across the song.
Overall, despite its many contributors, this album feels like a cohesive collection of songs that offer us the best of Allison’s talent and an openly welcoming musical collective. On ‘Cold April’ she sang of creating a ‘brand new murmuration’ – and that image of a group of birds who flock together for warmth, for safety and for the joy of moving together through space and time sums up the wonder of ‘In the Hour of Chaos’.
BUY: https://allisonrussell.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-hour-of-chaos
Highway Queens 
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