On her latest album, Lissie exerts supreme control to show how sophisticated pop can meld into substantial songwriting reflecting the prime side of progressive country, forthright folk rock and expansive Americana. There is a breezy contemporary sheen to the dozen songs forming CARVING CANYONS that unsurprisingly surfaced from a trip to Nashville and a team up with established songwriters such as Natalie Hemby. It is perhaps an enhanced element of vocal control and deployment that lifts this above its predecessors. Lissie was always a fully throttled performer and a shift down a more polished route has reaped dividends launching this Mid-Western artist into a fresh phase of a career now over a decade old and stocked with several notable releases.
If you are seeking a rapturous crowd pleaser then Lissie is right on the mark with 'Heart's On Fire' raging brightly at the three-quarter mark. This toe tapping belter and its infectious predecessor 'Unlock The Chains' form one tandem slant on what makes this album tick. For a slightly different yet similarly alluring take, the finale duo of 'Yellow Roses' and 'Midnight' saunter into the territory Kacey Musgraves conquers when at her best. Subtle, meaningful and skilfully guiding an absorbing release to a satisfying closure.
You get a strong sense of Lissie on top form in the opening strains of 'Unravel' as she pours her heart into something that hasn't quite worked out. This is a pretty restrained start setting the scene for a relentless swirl across a range of tempos that begin to pick up with the modernist vibes to 'Sad'.
CARVING CANYONS is a vividly curated album title and the track it lends its name to stands tall at the heart of the album. One strong in imagery, while taking the pace down a notch to the place where a super song shimmers in a sunlit scene. A perfect pitstop for a multi dimensional album.
This pivotal track is preceded by a pair of songs sectioned off for pre-release promotion. 'Night Moves' possesses a strident beat to move things to the centre ground in the vein of middle of the road folk-rock acts. 'Flowers' demands a little space to prosper and probably ultimately struggles to make the same impact as several big hitting numbers on the album. However this album warrants extra listening time for wild card picks to spring up.
Another brace of tracks sequenced together in the first half of the album are the pop-oriented 'Chasing the Sun' and the countrified in title, if not quite so in sound 'Lonesome Wine'. Bringing the complement up to a full set is the acoustically introduced 'I Hate This', which sees Lissie seemingly in personal mode with a track that could quite easily find a neat fit on a contemporary country album.
Those who have followed the career of Lissie will sense the move to CARVING CANYONS a natural evolution. It is her most cultured album to date and offering significant proof that the potential to continue to prosper is more a reality than a hope.