ALBUM REVIEW: With ‘The Returner,’ Allison Russell Lifts Up Community

Allison Russell’s jubilant follow-up to her award-winning solo debut dwells deep in the recesses of the soul. It’s imbued with a radiant spirituality that illumines the liminal spaces of human existence, and it exudes a joy that rides her transcendent vocals and the musical fabric created by her glorious collaborators.

Allison Russell (photo by Dana Trippe)

As with Outside Child (ND story), The Returner reflects the emotional unity and intimacy of a community of artists and friends following the music where it leads. Russell and dim star (partner JT Nero and Drew Lindsay) co-produced the album, which features guest appearances from Brandi Carlile, Brandy Clark, and Hozier as well as backing from a group of musicians she’s dubbed the Rainbow Coalition: Elenna Canlas (keyboards/synth, backing vocals), Elizabeth Pupo-Walker (percussion), SistaStrings’ Chauntee Ross (violin, backing vocals) & Monique Ross (cello, backing vocals), Ganessa James (bass, backing vocals), Joy Clark (guitar), Kerenza Peacock (violin), Larissa Maestro (cello, backing vocals), Lisa Coleman (piano), Mandy Fer (guitar, backing vocals), Meg Coleman (drums), Meg McCormick (guitar), Wendy Melvoin (guitar, bass), and Wiktoria Bialic (drums).

The title track opens sparsely, creating a space where Russell can acknowledge the pain she’s experienced before letting it “roll out on the tide.” Once that emotional wave rushes out, the strings begin to swell and carry her upward: “I’m a summer dream / I’m a real light beam / I’m worthy.” On the song’s outro, following the soaring hope of wellness in the midst of anguish, Russell whispers a promise and an affirmation: “Don’t you know / You are never alone.”

The funky, Philly soul “All Without Within” drips with sensuality, reveling in the unbridled intimacy of two bodies, while the punchy space jazz of “Demons” conveys a struggle between the forces of evil and good, working for liberation of the soul and society, triumphant in the end. The propulsive “Stay Right Here” embraces the dichotomy of the personal and political, as Russell fiercely proclaims that she wants to protect her daughter so that one day her daughter can “hear her daughter laughing.”

The exuberant “Shadowlands,” riding on a riff from Smokey Robinson’s “Being with You,” evokes the permeable borders between the physical and the spiritual and the power of emotion and imagination to change the heart: “Every Child who returns from The Shadowlands / Has an Alchemist’s Heart / A thousand Suns burning inside us / We can melt the Hatred to Love.”

The album closes with the towering “Requiem,” which builds from a loping country gospel rhythm into a soaring choral affirmation of love and life.

The Returner is a welcome arrival, and once again Russell opens her heart, inviting listeners to travel with her, body and soul, through travails and triumphs. The community gathered on this record reflects the unity we all strive for in the face of anguish and pain. It’s comforting and empowering to walk beside Russell as a fellow traveler.

Allison Russell’s The Returner is out Sept. 8 on Fantasy Records.