Wounded Healer

Album review

It's hard to know exactly what each Celebration album will offer listeners other than an intense experience. Wounded Healer delivers just that, transporting listeners with a collection of dizzying, dazzling songs that balance escapism and depth. The volatility within each track here reflects the turbulence of life in the 2010s, and Celebration know how to transform it into wild and often beautiful music. There's something stupendous on nearly every track, and Wounded Healer is bookended by two of its most unusual songs: "Rolling On" builds on an oompah beat that nods to polka, banda, and psychedelic carnival music as the track unfolds, while "Drum and Fife" unites brass, a beat descended from girl group pop, and a spoken word bridge with a sound that evokes 1776 as much as 2017. In between, swirling keyboards give Wounded Healer a mystical quality that's only heightened by Katrina Ford's magnificent, magnetic vocals. As she holds the album's stylistic twists and turns together, Ford proves once again that she sounds great on just about any style of music. The Bond movie theme wannabe "Velvet Gloves" captures the full sweep and drama of her voice, while the slinky, '70s-tinged "Stevie" and "Paper Trails," a show tune duet with Future Islands' Samuel Herring (one of the few singers who can keep up with her), serve as excellent reminders of just how wide her range is. Despite its ambition and intensity, Wounded Healer also features some of Celebration's most accessible songs, particularly on its first half: "Sacred Clown"'s trippy post-punk, the mash-up of Beach House and '60s soul that is "Spider," and "Summer Season"'s Goldfrapp-goes-boho leanings are some of their most engaging moments yet. They also suggest that Celebration might be too mercurial to earn the wider acclaim they deserve, but few acts convey deluxe drama as well as they do on Wounded Healer.
© Heather Phares /TiVo