Frankie Morrow – ‘Way Out West’ album review: Less like a debut album than the discovery of a long lost classic
The new (and first) album from Frankie Morrow, Way Out West, sounds less like a debut album than it does the rediscovery and uncovering of a long-lost and stone-cold classic.
The Skinny: There are so many elements in here that you’ll recognise from great artists, writers and songs, both classic and contemporary, but crucially, Morrow makes something incredibly raw, vital, fresh, exhilarating and invigorating and most importantly, new, out of all of those pieces, sources and references.
Citing Bob Dylan and Neil Young as two major influences, you can hear exactly where their impact on Morrow manifests in her drawled and slurring vocal on second song ‘There Is A Place’ (part Dylan) and also on the piercing and howling electric guitar line of the same song (which is all Neil Young). But there are also traces and echoes of other incredible artists here, as well.
At times, you’re put in mind of Joni Mitchell with the way that Morrow fluctuates into her higher register before settling back down into a deeper-sounding voice, and at other times, you’re reminded of the Americana mastery of Gillian Welch. Sometimes you’ll be reminded of Cat Clyde and Cat Power, and at others of Elyse Weinberg and Karen Dalton; and Courtney Barnett, Sharon Van Etten, Phoebe Bridgers and Daniel Romano. Maybe Hurray for the Riff Raff and Mary Gauthier and even Television, too, or at least, Tom Verlaine and his Wilco disciple Nels Cline.
All that is to say, that although this is a debut album, it is building on an incredible melting-pot of history. But that’s more than enough now about other artists, this album is all about Frankie Morrow and what an incredible talent she is and will be, in her own right.
On each and every song, the music perfectly coalesces and supports her earthy vocals. With warm acoustic guitars on some songs and confident, strutting electric guitars taking over on others, homely organ trills throughout, gorgeously aching steel guitar swells and measured drums, the album is not just beautifully performed but brilliantly mixed, as well. There is so much depth in these recordings, so much space and natural, earth-bound energy. There’s so much life in the arrangements, these songs will grab you by the heart and drag you all across the musical map, drag you through the decades.
But for all the great inspirations you’re minded of, for all the great playing and the brilliant production, perhaps it is Frankie Morrow’s voice, and the way that she wields it, that just is the best instrument on the record. Her voice rises and falls across the stunning ‘I Know You’ (“better than you think I do”), crashing like the shore against a cliff-face at times and dragging you out to sea with its power, while at others more gently receding and washing over you with a cleansing and healing energy.
In ‘All On’, Morrow haunts with a ghostly and spectral spirit, sliding through the full range of her register and unleashing a banshee wail, while elsewhere, she plays with accents and rhythmic intensity on songs like the raging ‘Star Jasmine’ or the folkloric opener ‘Way Out West’.
This is not a debut that is exciting because you can hear the talent that you know will be more fully formed and fully realised on future releases, it’s a debut album that is astonishing because that talent arrives already fully formed, fully realised and runs together as a cohesive and astonishing whole. It is almost frightening to think of where that talent can go from here. You can hear it in the songwriting and in the mighty delivery of these words; it’s in every performance, and it’s on every song.
We’re coming to the end of an old era, and of an old order. We’ve lost a lot of the greats in recent years, and in years to come, we are going to lose plenty more, as well. But, with the arrival of Frankie Morrow and her practically faultless album Way Out West, it sounds like we have gained a great talent as well, at least.
“There is a place where you belong,” she sings on the second song, which might just be the best track on the whole album, although both ‘The Peach’ and ‘I Know You’, both of which come directly after it on the album, run it mighty close. Right now, though, I feel like the place that I belong is wherever this album is playing.
Standout Track: ‘There is a Place’
The Verdict: This record shouldn’t only be compared to earlier works by Dylan, Young, Mitchell, Weinberg and Welch because there are echoes of those older artists’ sounds in the songs, but because they fully deserve to be spoken of in the same conversation all on their own merit.
Release Date: June 26th, 2026 | Producers: Frankie Morrow and Callum McGuinness | Label: Tres Brujas Records
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