Allison Russell
The Returner
Fantasy/Concord
Released 09/08/23 | Listen Below
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Allison Russell’s powerful debut solo album Outside Child (2021) was met with widespread acclaim upon its release two years ago, deservedly winning Album of the Year at the Americana Music Association’s 2022 Honors & Awards ceremony and capturing three GRAMMY Award nominations. And now the Montreal-born singer-songwriter-musician has resurfaced with her follow-up effort The Returner, a ten-track affair that features collaborations with Wendy & Lisa, Brandi Carlile, Brandy Clark and Hozier. Supported by Russell’s current North American tour, the album is preceded by official singles “The Returner,” “Stay Right Here” and “Snakelife.”
“My goal with The Returner—sonically, poetically, and spiritually—is a radical reclamation of the present tense, a real time union of body, mind, and soul,” Russell explains in an official statement. “This album is a much deeper articulation of rhythm, groove, and syncopation. Groove as it heralds the self back into the body, groove as it celebrates sensual and sexual agency and flowering, groove as an urgent call to action and political activism.
In just a word, it’s funkier. But as is the history of anything funky, it’s never just a party. It is a multiverse of energies that merges the celebration and the battle cry. For while an embrace of the present tense is a celebration, it is equally an unquestioning leap into battle—cultural, political, environmental.”
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