Courtney Marie Andrews – Valentine

Andrews’ current, considerable, stature has been achieved through consistent quality records since her 2016 breakthrough, Honest Life. Parallels with early Joni Mitchell may seem too easy to conjure up but she has a dream of a voice that draws you in like a siren, a considerable talent on guitar and piano, sophisticated arrangements and the regular mining of her own personal life for lyrics. Inspiration for these songs came from relationships and the stress of seeing someone close struggle with ill health. These experiences took her to a plight, she calls, limerence: a mental state of being madly in love where reciprocity is uncertain and from here all sorts of insecurities, mood swings and emotions kick in. To deal with such turbulence, she says, the last year has been one of a lot of writing, hiking and travel.

With brutal honesty she wades into a selection of intimate lyrics that often reflect an observant and defiant mindset yet with compassion and support – “Close the curtain, say your confession / My lips are sealed at your discretion / It’s a scary world full of cons and clowns / A lot of bad people who will tear you down / Not me, no way”. The haunting Cons & Clowns comes replete with angelic harmonising, muffled snares, chiming piano chords and flute. Outsider with its plucked guitar chords and resonating bass sits on a foundation of sweet extended strings. Here Andrews is on the defensive seeking a place where she won’t be hurt “as it’s too painful looking in”. Little Picture of a Butterfly explores the helplessness of things we can’t control, again with relationships to the fore – “Guess your love is not a cure / Guess I should’ve known better / Guess I’m throwing out that sweater / After all that time went by / All I get is a butterfly”. With her voice to the fore we have fragments of jazz flute before a striding insistent beat grows and Andrews starts to become assertive of where she’s now headed after the heartbreak.

With, her producer and contributing musician, Bernhardt she’s created interesting arrangements and varied instrumentation that give up more on each listen. I find her voice compelling and capable of making me absorb all her heartfelt sentiments. I think this may be my favourite of hers to date.