Brandi Carlile- Returning to Myself
Label: Interscope
Producers: Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt, Aaron Dessner, Justin Vernon
It’s been nearly eight years since Brandi Carlile’s seminal 2018 album, By the Way I Forgive You notified the general public of the immense talent that roots music aficionados had been aware of since her 2005 debut. Not only did that long overdue breakthrough accelerate her demand as a performer, but as a producer and collaborator as well, leading to projects like The Highwomen supergroup, and production credits for both The Secret Sisters and country legend Tanya Tucker, whose renaissance is widely credited to Carlile’s participation. In the four years since the release of her superb and most recent solo recording, 2021’s In These Silent Days, Carlile’s collaborations have only become more prolific. Since that time, she’s been at the producer’s helm for another record by Tucker, as well as projects by Lucius, Brandy Clark, and Joni Mitchell, and this past spring saw the release of a thrilling duets record with her hero, Elton John. So, while it undoubtedly is referencing deeper meaning on a personal level, it’s apt that her long awaited solo return is titled Returning to Myself. And, given the rapid-fire communal creating and dramatic production of these other projects, it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that this also represents Carlile’s most stripped and insular solo album to date.
That’s not to say that she completely secludes herself from the normal creative community that has been such a bedrock of her catalog. Her long-standing writing partners, The Hanseroth Twins do still appear in the credits of two tracks, however the bulk of the record comprises the largest batch of solo-penned tracks of Carlile’s career. Meanwhile, she changes up the co-production roster as well, pairing with Andrew Watt (who oversaw Who Believes In Angels for her and Elton), as well as The National’s Aaron Dessner, and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, a pair that had a significant presence on Taylor Swift’s pair of pandemic-era folk classics. Together, they foster the sparsest musical setting of Carlile’s discography, a fitting showcase for a batch of songs that certainly prove to be among her most personally gutting, with some of the deepest reflections on her career, her family, her friendships, and the messy state of the world.
The record begins with the delicate title track, a stunning performance that is easily her most nakedly confessional vocal to date. With a bare and ethereal folk/alt-rock backdrop that recalls Emmylou Harris’ glorious second career act, the song beautifully depicts the crucial need to carve out a reflective space alone with your inner-most emotions, and the full-circle reality that they ultimately lead you back to those you love. Hearing Carlile’s resonant vocals alone with just an acoustic guitar is one of the most wondrously revelatory sounds in all of modern music, and while not all of the following performances are this bare sonically, it’s a raw quality that remains a glorious constant throughout the album. “Human” is a gripping examination of the human experience and how we fool ourselves with our relationship with time, while “A Woman Oversees” is a chilling soul jewel that taps into our need to pour ourselves into others’ heartbreak and misery to shelter ourselves from our own. It’s another one of the best vocal showcases of her two-decade career. “A War With Time” is equally luminous and biting all the same, laying out the harsh realities of the life-changing moments that inevitably await us all.
Not every moment of Returning to Myself is tender and hushed. Penned on the night of the 2024 Presidential Election, “Church & State” is easily and fittingly the most ferocious moment of the album, and also the most in-tune with the rock textures of In These Silent Days. It adopts a synth-driven, Springsteen-esque Heartland backdrop (that would make for fascinating exploration on future albums BTW), and delivers a dark but empowering message of good triumphing and persevering over evil, before being punctuated with a spoken excerpt from Thomas Jefferson’s 1801 Thomas Address. It’s an intense and harrowing centerpiece that once again establishes Carlile as a faithful scribe for listeners during troubled social times.
“Joni” subsequently proves to be the perfectly charming come-down from “Church & State”. It’s such a wonderfully intimate and personal tribute to Mitchell, told not through the lens of the creative successor admiring from afar that Carlile was just a few years ago, but rather a real-life friend and creative partner. The hook sums it all up with a perfectly sly but moving smile- “When I tell you I love, and you tell me ‘okay’/I know you believe me, and that’s love in your own way”. It’s a moment captured with such endearing imagery and characterization that you can picture the interaction yourself as the song unfolds.
The influence of artistic giants like Mitchell and John have always been a prominent influence in Carlile’s music, and although the greatness of her own work has been well-established for the better part of twenty years now, it’s clearer than ever that Carlile’s own artistic confidence and gravitas is stronger than ever. After all, rubbing elbows with your musical heroes to such outstanding results should elicit such a quality. We’re at that moment in her own career arc where it’s indisputable that Brandi Carlile is building a musical legacy on par with that of these heroes. This is as clear as ever in the final two songs of the record, “No One Knows Us” and “A Long Goodbye”. The former is a haunting and imposing moment as the narrator desperately but delicately tries to get a hurting lover to cling to her in their darkest moments, while the latter is the perfectly soft and warm conclusion to this album. It’s a beautiful love-letter to her wife and children, and a stirring reminder that the most rewarding result of turning inward to one’s need for isolation and independence, is that it ultimately leads you back to the loved ones that elevate your greatest moments, and center you throughout your most turbulent.
This lesson is truly the most pivotal takeaway from Returning to Myself, an aching rock masterwork and an emphatic reaffirmation that Brandi Carlile is one of those special artists whose work serves as both a soothing and sobering peek into our souls, and our own life legacies. It’s one of those records where the listener must soak in every lyric to fully experience and appreciate it, and the emotional rewards of such an effort are tenfold.
Track Listing:
- “Returning to Myself” (Brandi Carlile)
- “Human” (Carlile, Phil Hanseroth, Tim Hanseroth, Andrew Watt)
- “A Woman Oversees” (Carlile)
- “A War With Time” (Carlile, Aaron Dessner)
- “Anniversary” (Carlile)
- “Church & State” (Carlile)
- “Joni” (Carlile)
- “You Without Me” (Carlile, Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Watt)
- “No One Knows Us” (Carlile, Dessner)
- “A Long Goodbye” (Carlile, Hanseroth, Hanseroth, Watt)
The 706 
Leave a comment