I’m
mid-way through a much-needed weekend I made long by design. I’ve filled the
first half of it with disc sports (a day playing disc golf followed by a morning
playing Ultimate) and I’m a bit stiff and sore, but it is the good kind.
I’ve just awakened from a slightly overlong nap, refreshed and ready to turn my mind to the lovely record I’ve been listening to all week.
Disc 1759 is….Mantras
Artist: Katie Pruitt
Year of Release: 2024
What’s up with the Cover? When playing around in photoshop it is important to know when to say when. That did not happen with this cover. We’ve got some trees, columns, lightning, birds, and what looks like a playing card with three different visages of Katie Pruitt on it.
When I reviewed Pruitt’s live show, I bemoaned the lack of merch available, but had the concert shirts had this graphic on them, I would’ve been hard pressed to buy one with this graphic.
How I Came To Know It: Katie Pruitt’s debut album, “Expectations” (reviewed back at Disc 1361) LINK was my favourite album of 2020 (for the full list, see here). As in, #1. Checking out the follow up was a no-brainer.
How It Stacks Up: I have two Katie Pruitt albums, and if you’ve been reading along to this point you know what they are. It would take a lot to dethrone “Expectations” at #1 and while I liked “Mantras” it can only manage a distant second.
Ratings: 4 stars
I came around slowly to “Mantras” but this was more an unfair comparison to Katie Pruitt’s earlier release. Once I got over the fact that her new record was never going to achieve the same heights, I was able to settle in and enjoy it for what it is.
Stylistically, this record is more of the same, indie Americana folk with a pop sensibility to the song construction, but with much more to say than your average radio pop pablum.
When we last left Pruitt she was a young woman sharing coming of age stories of a young gay woman in the small town American south, with all the complexity and challenges that implies.
Here, we have a slightly older Pruitt, still writing from a very personal place, but with new stories to tell, including what it is to have and lose love, ongoing familial challenges where world views collide, and confronting the anxiety of not knowing how everything will turn out, and being OK with that. Her raw honesty is once again on full display, and that willingness to go to a place of vulnerability is what makes Pruitt a great songwriter and storyteller.
The album opens strong with “All My Friends”, a song about exploring new belief systems after you realize the ones you were raised with may not be what you need. While the exploration is coming from a place of not knowing, the song’s structure is brave and optimistic. We don’t always know where we’re going, but checking out the options can be freeing.
“White Lies, White Jesus, and You” comes next, the flip side of “All My Friends” optimism. Here, Pruitt explores the judgment of others, and calls them on their hypocrisy. Best line:
“You talk about forgiveness like a favour
Like It’s something that you don’t have to do.”
Her message is clear – that’s not how it works in that book you’ve been reading.
In other songs, Pruitt confronts anxiety in its various forms. We’ve all suffered at one time or other from having our minds racing like a hamster on a wheel, and Pruitt’s explorations of the experience (“Self Sabotage”, “Worst Case Scenario”) describe efforts to calm her mind and relax, with varying degrees of success..
Structurally, the songs are very familiar, and Pruitt has not altered the way she writes. Same phrasing, same chord combinations. This is fine with me, given that “Expectations” is such a great record, but lyrically “Mantras” is not as consistent, with some songs blurring the lines between heartfelt and trite. A good example is “Blood Related” – a good song about an awkward family dinner, but in terms of emotional impact it’s no “Georgia”.
Through it all, Pruitt’s vocals come to the rescue. Even on the lesser songs, her phrasing and the full, sweet tone of her voice make you forgive the occasional clunky lyric. Her voice is a delightful bird song that you can’t get enough of. Not so much powerful as it is full and bright and full of confessional honesty.
I started out thinking “Mantras” was a three-star record, but the more I listened the more I liked it, and for this reason I’m going to set aside all my unfair comparisons with the ghosts of records past, and I gave it the four stars it deserves.
Best tracks: All My Friends, White Lies White Jesus and You, Jealous of the Boys, The Waitress
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