ALBUM REVIEW: A Free and Easy Flow on Courtney Marie Andrews’ ‘Loose Future’
Maeri Ferguson
Posted On October 5, 2022
Accepting yourself as you are takes work, and for Courtney Marie Andrews, it meant opening herself up to possibility. It meant writing a song a day, giving in to romance, and all the things that made her uncomfortable. The payoff was more than just a privately held personal one. It yielded Loose Future, some of the finest songs of Andrews’ prolific past few years.
Courtney Marie Andrews
Though its title refers to an embrace of flexibility, Loose Future also sounds like its name. The cool-toned melodies flow free and easy, a gorgeous untethering of Andrews from the things that tied her down. She isn’t just releasing a little more slack on the strings of these songs, she’s floating them into a starry night so they can take flight to unknown destinations and open hearts.
Andrews’ clear-as-a-bell voice has always conveyed emotion deeply and sensuously, but Loose Future shows she’s still finding new ways to use it as a storytelling mechanism. Where her runs were tighter and starker on 2020’s Old Flowers (ND interview), here they’re breezy and bright. Even as she chronicles the awkwardness of a first date on standout “Older Now” — an experience that could inspire a wound-up, anxious sound — Andrews seems to shake off the nerves and unburden herself of expectations.
The layered vocal harmonies are equally vibrant and especially loose on the nostalgic “These Are the Good Old Days,” the shimmery title track, and the ethereal “Satellite.” There is a magnificent weightlessness and fluidity to the arrangements, produced by the master of such a sound, Sam Evian.
The weight of Loose Future lies in the message of these songs. Andrews’ songwriting beckons listeners to think sweet thoughts, allow for imperfection and imagination, and settle in with who they are now, not who they think they should be. “Let’s keep it easy,” she sings on the title track. “No big picture / Just the way it ought to be.” The relief of this comes through every note of Loose Future, like a gentle exhale. In with the good, out with the bad. Out with the old, in with the new, whatever it may be.
Courtney Marie Andrews’ Loose Future is out Oct. 7 on Fat Possum Records.
