ALBUM REVIEW: The Staves, Now a Duo, Keep Eyes on the Present on ‘All Now’
Tom Williams
Posted On March 20, 2024
All Now, the fifth album from UK sister act The Staves, is their first as a duo, following the departure of Emily Staveley-Taylor. However, the reconfigured group remains at the height of their confidence on All Now, which begins with a triumphant, self-titled mission statement (“It’s all now, isn’t it exciting? / We can stick it to the man”) and transitions from adult contemporary in its first half to stomping folk-rock in its second.
Despite the ambition and promise portrayed in the title track, there is also a hint of resignation — “Would it be alright / If I sit this one out tonight?”, one of the sisters wonders quietly toward the song’s end. In this way, “All Now” proves a fitting primer for the rest of All Now, an album that wrestles with past regrets and uses them as motivation to seize the present moment. “You got the magic, I think I missed it,” sing the duo on “I Don’t Say It, But I Feel It,” an assured ode to surrendering to dizzying depths of desire, love, and connection.
All Now is The Staves’ second album produced with the ever-in-demand John Congleton, and sonically there are few departures from its predecessor, 2021’s Good Woman. This is hardly surprising, as that album marked a critical breakthrough for the then-trio. Subtle markers of Congleton’s signature stylings remain, chief among them the dry drum remaining at the forefront of many of these songs’ mixing. But his more idiosyncratic stylings — as demonstrated in his work with St. Vincent and Angel Olsen — are largely absent. For an album with a thematic focus on the ephemeral joys of the present, it’s easy to wish for something that sounded a little wilder, a little more untamed.
However, we are treated to some exciting, if subtle, switch-ups on the album’s B-side. The delightfully lo-fi “The Important One” recalls the intimacy of the band’s earlier works, while the subtly unsettling “Great Wave” effectively utilizes loud-quiet dynamics. But it’s “After School” that proves to be the band’s most impressive showcase, an urgent and anthemic tune imbued with classic piano-rock swagger. All Now seems designed to take The Staves to bigger audiences, greater acclaim, and larger venues, and songs like “After School” prove they can go the distance.
The Staves’ All Now is out March 22 on Nonesuch Records.
