Good Woman

The Staves

Released on 5/2/21 by Atlantic Records UK
Main artists: The Staves
Genre: Alternative & Indie

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Since the Staves' last album in 2017, the three sisters—Jessica, Emily and Camilla Staveley-Taylor—have lived through heartache. They unexpectedly lost their greatest supporter, their mother, weeks after the death of their grandmother. Within a month of that, Camilla left a seemingly troubled five-year relationship and fled her adopted home in the US for her mother's empty house just north of London. It all came out in the songs, as did Emily's new turn as a mother. All that pain and tenderness and wonder is beautiful, and sometimes devastating. Lovely ballad "Sparks" absolutely captures both emotions. A song for their late mom, it's like a plea for practical magic: "I can hear your keys in the door/ I want to believe it" go the words, while the music builds to a place of jubilance. A heavy undertow of distortion and muscular drum rolls pull at the seams of "Careful Kid," while the sisters' sweet choir voices tread carefully: "All the kicks in the ribs, they can really make you weak/ And I'm coming back around from a five-year rebound." The seemingly cheery finger snaps and feather-light backing vocals of "Devotion" quickly give way to somber piano and sentiments like: "Your affliction isn't mine to hold, and/ How should I know how to?...Devotion be the death of me." Camilla has said that she wrote some songs while still in her relationship: "That's the most depressing thing in the world—that, in hindsight, your song is telling you to run." Throughout, there are sonic echoes of Laura Marling, Angel Olsen and Haim, and spiritual echoes of Fiona Apple. Raised on Dylan and CSNY, the trio can pull off flawless folk harmonies (stripped-down "Nothing's Gonna Happen" is especially a knock-out in that department) but there's nothing retro or twee about their style. And just as notable as all the turmoil embedded in the lyrics is an eager determination to come through it alive. "Trying" is almost gothic in its haunted simplicity, the sisters singing "I'm all scared/ 'Cause it's been so rough/ I'll be here/ Trying" before rising into a chant of "I'm sorry, you should be sorry, too." Camilla has said that the Haim-like title track is about not letting yourself be belittled through someone else's eyes. "I'm a good woman," it swears, as much of a declaration for the one saying it as who she's saying it to. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

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Good Woman

The Staves

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Good Woman