PHOENIX singer-songwriter Courtney Marie Andrews will showcase her new album at Pocklington Arts Centre on June 17 on her six-date tour.
Old Flowers will be released on June 5 on Loose/Fat Possum Records as her follow-up to 2018’s May Your Kindness Remain.
Created in the ashes of a long-term relationship, Andrews’ ten new songs amount to her most vulnerable writing to date as she chronicles her journey through heartbreak, loneliness and finding herself again.
“Old Flowers is about heartbreak,” says Courtney Marie, 29. “There are a million records and songs about that, but I did not lie when writing these songs. This album is about loving and caring for the person you know you can’t be with.
“It’s about being afraid to be vulnerable after you’ve been hurt. It’s about a woman who is alone, but OK with that, if it means truth. This was my truth this year: my nine-year relationship ended and I’m a woman alone in the world, but happy to know herself.”
Produced by Andrew Sarlo, who has worked with Bon Iver and Big Thief, Old Flowers was recorded at Sound Space Studio and features only three musicians: Andrews, on vocals, acoustic guitar and piano; Twain’s Matthew Davidson, on bass, celeste, mellotron, pedal steel, piano, pump organ, Wurlitzer and background vocals, and Big Thief’s James Krivchenia on drums and percussion.
Defining their intentions, Sarlo says: “Before we got to the studio, we agreed to prioritise making this record as cathartic and minimal as possible, focusing on Courtney’s voice and her intention behind the songs.
“Because of this, the record is all about performance. I believe a great recording is the chemistry between everything during basics and the ability to feel something happening, instead of obsessing over the perfect take. Courtney embraced this approach and we ended up with a raw, natural and human record.”
The resulting track listing comprises Burlap String; Guilty; If I Told; Together Or Alone; Carnival Dream; Old Flowers; Break The Spell; It Must Be Someone Else’s Fault; How You Get Hurt and Ships In The Night.
Courtney Marie last played Pocklington in December 2018, at the end of a week when she was felled by a viral infection the morning after her London gig and had to call off her Birmingham, Bristol and Oxford gigs.
Rested and recuperated, she was still nursing a cough, but found the energy for a solo set of songs and stories, introducing Ships In The Night and It Must Be Someone Else’s Fault, two new compositions that would end up on Old Flowers.
This time Courtney Marie will play with a full band in the lead-up to her series of summer festival engagements. Tickets for June 17’s 8pm gig cost £20 on 01759 301547 or at pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.