Still, Here
A photo of the artist stood in a desert field of red grass under a dark, cloudy sky.
Studio album by
Marisa Anderson
ReleasedSeptember 23, 2022
GenreBlues, folk
Length33:48
LabelThrill Jockey
Marisa Anderson chronology
Lost Futures
(with William Tyler)
(2021)		 Still, Here
(2022)
Singles from Still, Here
  1. "Waking"
    Released: June 16, 2022
  2. "La Llorona"
    Released: August 8, 2022
  3. "The Fire This Time"
    Released: September 8, 2022

Still, Here is the tenth studio album by Portland guitarist Marisa Anderson, released September 23, 2022, by Thrill Jockey.[1][2] The eight-track album consists of six original compositions and two arrangements of traditional songs. Anderson recorded every instrument, including multiple keyboards and numerous guitars, herself.

Background

The album was announced June 16 along with the release of lead single "Waking".[3] Second single "La Llorona", an arrangement of a traditional Mexican song named after the legendary spirit of Hispanic-American folklore, was released August 8.[4] Third single "The Fire This Time", named after James Baldwin's 1963 essay collection The Fire Next Time, was released September 8.[5] Anderson first released "The Fire This Time" for two weeks on her Bandcamp page, donating over $2,500 of proceeds to the Minnesota Freedom Fund.[6]

Anderson called the making of the album "probably a four-year process", saying that after her previous solo album Cloud Corner, she wasn't sure she had anything new to say. She "needed a little time and distance", leading to her intervening collaborative albums – The Quickening with Jim White and Lost Futures with William Tyler – to give her a change of pace. She said she thinks that move worked, that it "shook some other things loose and now I feel inspired again – and I'm writing new stuff all the time, which is fun." Per Anderson, "The Fire This Time" is about the murder of George Floyd and was written while protests were ongoing, with police sirens audible in the recording and the music representing her "visceral, horrified response to those events".[7]

Style

Per Dusted's Jennifer Kelly, the album is, "as always, lovely, serene and rooted in blues and folk traditions."[8] Pitchfork's Andy Cush calls her fingerpicking technique reminiscent of both Piedmont blues and flamenco, and notes some tracks which take influence from early Philip Glass, Mississippi Fred McDowell, and sunshine pop. Cush says every song has its own identity.[2]

Reception

Still, Here ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic80/100[9]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Pitchfork7/10[2]
Record Collector[10]
Uncut8/10[11]

According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Still, Here received "generally favorable reviews" based on a weighted average score of 80 out of 100 from 4 critic scores.[9]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Marisa Anderson, except tracks 7 and 8 which are traditional and arranged by Anderson

Still, Here track listing
No.TitleLength
1."In Dark Water"4:16
2."The Fire This Time"3:38
3."The Low Country"5:43
4."Night Air"3:07
5."Waking"3:07
6."The Crack Where the Light Gets In"4:37
7."La Llorona"3:31
8."Beat the Drum Slowly"5:49
Total length:33:48

Personnel

References

  1. 1 2 Monger, Timothy. "Marisa Anderson - Still, Here". AllMusic. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 Cush, Andy (September 26, 2022). "Marisa Anderson: Still Here Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
  3. ↑ DeVille, Chris (June 16, 2022). "Marisa Anderson – "Waking"". Stereogum. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
  4. ↑ Gallacher, Alex (August 8, 2022). "Marisa Anderson – "La Llorona" (Tune of the Day)". Folk Radio. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
  5. ↑ Todd, Nate (September 8, 2022). "Marisa Anderson Shares "The Fire This Time" Single". JamBase. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
  6. ↑ Tissenbaum, Marc (January 5, 2021). "How Musicians Are Surviving the Pandemic — and the Music Industry". PopMatters. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  7. ↑ Kimpton, Glenn (December 15, 2022). "Marisa Anderson on the art of improvisation versus composition and the everlasting allure of a sustaining electric guitar". Guitar World. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
  8. ↑ Kelly, Jennifer (September 21, 2022). "Marisa Anderson—Still, Here (Thrill Jockey)". Dusted. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
  9. 1 2 "Still, Here by Marisa Anderson Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
  10. ↑ Grady, Spencer. "Marisa Anderson - Still, Here". Record Collector. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
  11. ↑ Deusner, Stephen. "Marisa Anderson - Still, Here". Uncut. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
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