Review: Courtney Marie Andrews reconciles with herself and the world on ‘Valentine,’ her new album

“It’s a scary world full of cons and clowns / A lot of bad people who will tear you down,” sings Courtney Marie Andrews with an acidic tongue in “Cons & Clowns.” It’s unclear if that lyric, in particular, speaks to the present sociopolitical moment, but that reading is most certainly not wrong. The emotional toxins poured into the song overflow and course throughout the rest of Valentine, Andrews’ new record. “I was in one of the darkest periods of my life, and songs were the only way I could reckon with it,” she explains in press materials. In allowing herself this necessary release valve, she reaches a deeper understanding of herself in a ruin-ravaged world that does everything but extend compassion when it’s needed most.

Andrews wanders through shadowy halls and dark ruminations of blistering despair and isolation, as she does on the heartsick “Outsider.” Her anxiety spills forth from barely parted lips. “I’ve been burned before / You let them get close / Then, they expose your core,” she weeps. She clutches dangling heartstrings with a voice that’s always deceived her. The caramel warmth melts like wax around her melodies, as it’s always done, yet there’s a soft, throaty crackle that pokes through the edges of her phrasing.

A crown jewel of the record, “Everyone Wants to Feel Like You,” slyly escapes her lungs. Lyrics slam down like a two-ton anvil, particularly with the line: “You’re not sorry for space you take / You’re not sorry for yourself / You’re not sorry for existing.” We would all be lucky to feel that liberation pounding in our chests. For those who have not yet crossed that threshold, the static smolder of guitars, courtesy of heavyweight player and album co-producer Jerry Bernhardt, echoes the notion of severing societal pressures.

Her quest for self-actualization crushes the listener with essentials such as “Best Friend,” in which she exposes the hollowness inside with agonizing and brutal truth. “Wish I had a best friend, someone to laugh with,” she sings. “Bad jokes that only we get, someone to hold me accountable.” The house Andrews built comes crashing down upon her head in the finale, “Hangman.” Swollen and bruised, she unpacks the last remnants in her heart. “I am no hero, I am not anti-hero / I am only human with my own sacred desire,” she sings. Her admission lingers in the ears long after the record has stopped spinning.

With Valentine, Courtney Marie Andrews unleashes her second best album of her career—the champion remains 2018’s May Your Kindness Remain. That’s a remarkable achievement that not many reach. Her latest record easily soars higher than most of her contemporaries through sheer vocal prowess and aching wisdom of the human condition.

Valentine arrives everywhere this Friday (January 16) via Thirty Tigers.

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