ALBUM REVIEW: Hardship and Triumph Sing Together on Sunny War’s ‘Anarchist Gospel’
John Amen
Posted On January 31, 2023
With her new album, Anarchist Gospel, talented singer, songwriter, and guitarist Sunny War continues to acknowledge the effects of anxiety, grief, and social alienation while accessing a notable equanimity. The album stands as a testament to life’s hardships and a declaration of triumph.
Opener “Love’s Death Bed” shows War blending blues, gospel-inflected call-and-response vocals, and a splashy drum part. The song portrays death as a painful process of letting go yet includes buoyant instrumentation. This contrast between reflective lyrical content and upbeat sonics illustrates her evolution as a songwriter and musician, as well as producer Andrija Tokic’s skills as a studio architect. “No Reason,” meanwhile, features War mining the folk-rock playbook, reveling in catchy guitar licks and hook-laden melodies.
“Shelter and Storm,” with its old-timey timbre, brings to mind Rhiannon Giddens’ work. “She is fighting for her life / ain’t got no problem taking yours,” War sings, perhaps drawing from her own experiences with homelessness and addiction. War is philosophic in terms of perspective, though her voice intermittently conveys a sense of pain and urgency, evoking empathy. “Swear to Gawd” highlights her knack for contemporizing canonical templates that hearken back to field anthems and The Carter Family, her vocal impressively supple.
“I’ve cried just a little too long / now it’s time for me to be strong,” she declares on “Hopeless,” revisiting the bleaker musings of 2019’s Shell of a Girl while pointing to the importance of resilience and cultivating a positive attitude. “Higher” gives prominence to War’s more delicate guitar playing and a softer vocal, complemented by an understated Dave Rawlings. Her breathy pensiveness, reminiscent of Valerie June or Karima Walker, is framed by a range of melodic and percussive accents. The project ends with “Whole,” an encouraging reminder to herself and others to “take a break from the manmade hell,” to be authentic (“don’t you fake no smile”), and to strive for happiness.
Throughout Anarchist Gospel, War embraces paradoxes more ably than ever, speaking into various difficulties and advocating a hard-won optimism. Though we may be lost for a time, she suggests, it’s possible to find our way, to nurture a trajectory that is congruent with our values and gifts — and to secure a measure of inner peace.
Sunny War’s Anarchist Gospel is out Feb. 3 on New West Records.
