It’s been a while since we last featured Lissie, who last year released an album of her early work titled Watch Over Me (Early Works 2002 – 2009), whose country-tinged sound contrasts nicely against the Indie-folk route she’s taken her music on since. The good news is that she has a new album on the way titled Carving Canyons, which is due out September 16 on her Lionboy Records label.
The songs on the album are both cathartic and exploratory, part of a healing process following a breakup on her Iowa farm “It was an important period of time for me to explore some of my dark places and process it all.” At the album’s core is her lead single Flowers, and having worked a farm, she is more than qualified to state that basically, “The prettiest blooms literally come from shit, it’s a fertilizer”. She adds, “I wanted to claim my right to feel my feelings. As I grieved—not only for a relationship but for the world in the midst of a pandemic—I felt like my anger made people uncomfortable, but I came out the other side empowered and ready to step back into my light. I can grow my own flowers and make my own joy.”
The song was co-written with Henry Brill and Bre Kennedy, who also contributes vocals and is accompanied by a beautiful video that visually reflects this album’s keystone – finding hope in personal and worldly adversity.
Carving Canyons was produced by Curt Schneider (Patty Smyth, Lucero). She was inspired by her incredible intergenerational female friend group and the nature that surrounded her; Lissie travelled to Nashville and co-wrote much of the album with a majority of female-identifying songwriters—including Bre Kennedy, Madi Diaz, Morgan Nagler, Natalie Hemby, Kate York, and Sarah Buxton—who also contribute additional vocals throughout the album.
“Some days it was so terrifying that I didn’t know how to carry on—and then I realized, ‘How exciting. What a gift,’” Lissie recalls while discussing her frame of mind while making the record. “The road in front of me is wide open.”
On the strength of this single, Carving Canyons promises to be a landmark album on Lissie’s journey so far.
Pre-order/Pre-save ‘Carving Canyons’ and listen to ‘Flowers’ here: https://lissie.lnk.to/CarvingCanyonsYT