ALBUM REVIEW: On ‘Sharing in the Spirit,’ Ana Egge Stirs the Recipe for Hope
Rachel Cholst
Posted On May 16, 2024
We’re all just looking for a reason to fall in love again. Maybe that’s with a person, a cause, ourselves, the world in general — or even just a new album. Ana Egge makes it all easy to do on her 13th album, Sharing in the Spirit. Egge hit the studio with a confidence that comes with experience and a commitment to accepting nothing less than the best from herself. Egge has been a striking songwriter for some time — on Sharing in the Spirit, she and producer Lorenzo Wolff (Taylor Swift, Bartees Strange, Teddy Thompson) have crafted intentional soundscapes that make every song a gem.
Ana Egge (photo by Leslye Davis)
From the opening bars of the first song, “Don’t You Sleep,” it’s inescapable that this album is something special. Egge’s exhortation to revolution hints at a world to come: comfort, ease, love, and the certainty that these are attainable and natural baselines for the human experience. Egge’s smooth performance does not seek to cajole but rather to open listeners to softness and to begin the revolution now — with each other.
That combination of dignity and vulnerability drives “If It Were Up To Me.” This poignant meditation on grief, legacy, and the ideals we should uphold is buoyed by a bouncing bass line and shimmering guitars, giving a light touch to heavy thoughts and transforming them into common-sense wisdom. Egge performs this magic track again with the album’s final song, “Last Day of Our Acquaintance,” which transmutes the pain and inherent awkwardness of divorce into humor and acceptance: This, too, shall pass, even as it becomes an indelible memory.
Egge brings her wizardry to happier times, of course. “Missions Bells Moan” is a deft exploration of queer desire: tender, anticipating, and joyful. “Where Berries Grow” contemplates a different kind of love — the kind that celebrates the innate holiness of our existence and the bonds that tie us together.
Sharing in the Spirit navigates joy, sorrow, and all that lies between. Egge lets her words and instruments do the heavy work, guiding us through these songs with an easy, self-assured performance. These waters aren’t always easy to navigate, Egge illustrates, but they’re passable. And the shortcut is by following the album title: When we share all of ourselves, beautiful things happen.
Ana Egge’s Sharing in the Spirit is out May 17 on StorySound Records.
