Album Review: Anaïs Mitchell makes her self-titled return
metroweekly.comHadestown, abruptly quitting New York for Vermont ahead of the birth of her second child in early 2020 not only gave her the space to reconnect with herself, it gifted the spark that would allow her to deliver the self-titled Anaïs Mitchell (★★★☆☆), her first album of original material in almost a decade.If you’re familiar with the colorful stories and characters of Hadestown, Mitchell’s prowess as a songwriter and storyteller needs no introduction.
For all that Mitchell makes of her desire to tell her story, what really stands out in Anaïs Mitchell is not so much the stories themselves, but the way she pulls out moments in time and pins down the ephemeral feelings that accompany them.
Opener “Brooklyn Bridge,” for instance, is slow and romantic, distilling down a moment in time to its most haunting feelings.Mitchell’s ability to grab hold of these moments is in many ways the surprise highlight of the album.
In “Revenant,” she captures a sense of literally revisiting the past as she spins a love letter to her childhood, capturing the dreamy feeling of being in a once-familiar place and leafing through old belongings, describing them in loving detail.
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