ALBUM REVIEW: Anna Tivel Merges Nature and Human Nature on ‘Outsiders’

Anna Tivel has it on lock at this point. With three incredible studio albums behind her and one standout EP, Tivel has many strengths and no flaws. She’s one of the finest storytellers modern folk music has to offer, with lyrics so literary that it’s tempting to think of her as a poet with an exceptional gift for playing guitar and singing.

On her newest release, Outsiders, Tivel could have kept doing her thing: spinning tales of desperate, marginalized people with compassion and uncanny insight. But Tivel, winner of No Depression‘s Singer-Songwriter Award in 2019, is too honest for that — honest to herself, her audience, and the pursuit of art in general. This time around, Tivel is using a band. Her 2021 EP Blue World (ND review) hinted at Tivel’s next direction: a spare three-piece that filtered Tivel’s haunting storytelling through an almost jazz-like lens.

One of the songs from that EP, “Two Dark Horses,” finds a home on Outsiders with a more polished production. In an unusual turn, Tivel centers characters who aren’t human at all, seeking to find the vanishingly thin boundary between our baser natures and those of our four-legged neighbors – and the determination for autonomy and freedom that defines all creatures.

Anna Tivel (photo by Vincent Bancheri)

While Tivel is known for casting a sympathetic eye toward losers and dreamers, “Heroes” is a notable departure from Tivel’s body of work. The song is harsher, with electronica-inspired instrumentation and an overall admonishing tone. Tivel casts a critical eye toward the rock-and-rollers who have come before her and the behaviors induced by drugs, drinking, and ego. In her artist’s statement for Outsiders, Tivel writes that the song is not meant to be critical, but is meant as a reminder to balance our views of the people we look up to, to consider their less honorable behavior, and to have empathy for the struggles that lead them to those choices. Meanwhile, the synthesized sounds flitting through the background add a menacing edge to Tivel’s admonishments.

As Outsiders progresses, the album features more and more electronic elements. “The Dial” marries the bare minimalism of Tivel’s lyrics and spare electronica, a successful experiment pulled off with the assistance of producer Shane Leonard. These new sounds merge well with Tivel’s all-too-human folk music, imbued with warmth, sadness, and everything in between. It’s enough to suggest that even 1s and 0s can add to the organic beauty around us — and maybe we should stop stressing and take it all in.

Anna Tivel’s Outsiders came out Aug. 19 via Mama Bird Recording Co.