ABOUT ELISE DAVIS: [http://www.elisedavis.com/]
"Round here, you can be however you wanna be," ELISE DAVIS SINGS AT
THE END "33," one of 10 self-empowered southern anthems from her
newest album, Cactus.
Released two years after The Token -- DAVIS' 2016 DEBUT, whose
electrified roots-rock sound earned praised from outlets like Rolling
Stone Country, Noisey, and The Wall Street Journal -- Cactus shows
the full range of her songwriting. Here, she moves between lush
alt-country and stripped-down folk confessionals, gluing everything
together with story-driven songs about independence, liberation, and
resilience as an adult woman. If The Token's own songs were
vulnerable and diary-like, their lyrics pulled from DAVIS' PAST
ROMANCES, then Cactus turns a new leaf, with DAVIS TAKING PRIDE IN
HER STATUS AS A SINGLE, self-sufficient adult woman. Like the desert
plant that lends the album its title, she doesn't need help from
others to grow tall.
"Cacti are independent plants that sustain themselves," she explains.
"They can be beautiful with bright-colored flowers on them, but if you
touch them, they will hurt you. I see a lot of parallels with the way
I have felt most of my life. It felt like the perfect album title for
these songs."
DAVIS' INDEPENDENT STREAK BEGAN IN LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas, where she
began writing songs at 12 years old. By college, she was booking her
own tours and gigging regionally across the state. It was her
relocation to Nashville that kickstarted the busiest phase of her
career, though, with DAVIS LANDING A PUBLISHING DEAL DURING HER FIRST
TWO YEARS IN TOWN. Daily co-writing sessions whittled her songwriting
to a sharp point, while an ongoing string of recordings -- including
The Token, recorded in Maine and released in partnership with Thirty
Tigers -- all showcased a musician who shone just as brightly onstage
as she did in the writing room.
When it came time to record Cactus, DAVIS REMAINED IN TENNESSEE,
tapping producer Jordan Lehning (Rodney Crowell, Caitlin Rose, Andrew
Combs, Birdcloud's Jasmin Kaset) to helm her most personal work to
date. The two worked together for six months, holed up in Lehning's
home studio, looking to albums like Tom Petty's Wildflowers and Aimee
Mann's Mental Illness for inspiration. They paid tribute to DAVIS'
ADOPTED HOMETOWN, too, layering songs like the woozy, western "Hold Me
Like a Gun" and the cathartic "Don't Bring Me Flowers" -- the latter
co-written with Grammy-winner Maren Morris -- with pedal steel,
acoustic guitar, keyboards, strings and vocal harmonies. DAVIS'
MELODIES REMAINED AT THE FOREFRONT OF EVERY MIX, her voice honest and
unflinching, stripped free of the reverb that had swirled its way
throughout The Token.
A bold, country-leaning album, Cactus never pulls its punches. DAVIS
EXAMINES LONG-term monogamy and loneliness with "Lone Wolf," "Hold Me
Like A Gun," and the album's percussive title track, then talks
frankly about sexuality during songs like "Man" and "Don't Bring Me
Flowers." She tackles the institution of marriage -- as well as the
societal misconception that women should be married by a certain age
-- on "33" and "Married Young," then looks at wider issues like
depression ("Moody Marilyn") and climate change ("Last Laugh") during
the album's second half.
Together, Cactus paints the picture of a modern woman in the modern
world. It's an album about what it takes to stand alone, rooted in the
hard-won wisdom of a songwriter who's unafraid to shine a light on her
missteps and victories.
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11/02/2019 Last update