Old Flowers

Intimacy has been a specialty of Courtney Marie Andrews since her 2008 debut, but the singer/songwriter raises the stakes on Old Flowers, her 2020 album, and second record for Fat Possum. Inspired by a particularly painful breakup, Andrews wrote a song cycle where the tunes are connected by wistful regret and accentuated by the occasional glimmer of hope. Nothing on Old Flowers moves particularly fast, and the arrangements are deliberately hushed, inviting the listener to lean in to hear the particulars of her sorrow. Andrews recounts this sadness with precision -- these are wordy heartbreak songs -- but the gentle sway she, James Krivchenia, and Matthew Davidson create with producer Andrew Sarlo functions as something of a balm; its melancholy but soothing. In some respects, Old Flowers could be called a shade too successful, since it casts a specific understated spell, but listened to in the right mood or hour of the day, its a bewitching affair. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine