Margo Price takes control on stunning new album ‘Strays’
Margo Price is over the shit. The 39-year-old alt-country singer-songwriter has spent the better part of the past decade and change trying to get people to pay attention. Apparently, three great albums and a nomination for Best New Artist at the 2018 Grammys weren’t enough, so Price has now given the world her response: “Fuck off”.
That’s the feeling lingering over the ten tracks that make up her fourth studio album, Strays. Along with her husband and co-songwriter, Jeremy Ivey, Price has crafted an LP that covers everything from abortion rights to self-identity to career expectations to orgasms.
Along the way, Price has crafted her most psychedelic album to date. Featuring a wide array of instruments and plenty of special guests, Strays expands the boundaries of Price’s music to the point where calling it “country” seems to be doing it a disservice. If Price couldn’t cut it with Nashville’s elite, she’s going to bring in her own cast of players to remake her sound into something completely different.
That cast includes some killer musicians, namely former Tom Petty consigliere Mike Campbell, indie rock icon Sharon Van Etten, and synth-rock killer Lucius (truth be told: I’ve liked Lucius’ recent collaborations with The War on Drugs, Brandi Carlile, and now Margo Price better than any of their own music. Sue me).
Tellingly, Strays was created while Price was working on her recent memoir, Maybe We’ll Make It. Those nuggets of autobiographical content aren’t just sprinkled into the outer edges of Strays: they’re baked straight into the album’s DNA. When Price belts out the title phrase in ‘Change of Heart’, it feels like you’re hearing it right from the source.
Musically, everything from funk to blues to heartland rock to bluegrass is represented on Strays. The old-school keyboards and wah-wah pedals seem to point an arrow toward classic rock, but the riffs and growls in Price’s voice seem to come from the delta. It’s a bizarre mix, and it’s something that Price doesn’t always nail. The edges could be sharper, and the crunch could be crunchier since the production gloss over the top of the album sands down some of the more interesting rough edges.
That being said, when the album goes for its death blows, they hit hard. ‘Anytime You Call’ is a classic heartbroken country track, except it’s retracing the actual emotions felt between Price and Ivey. Airing those very private thoughts for everyone to see is brave, but they also better make an impression, or it’s all for nought. Luckily, Price is spot on in her delivery.
As Strays eases into its conclusion with ‘Landfill’, the dusty haze that can only come from pedal steel guitars wafts through the speakers. It’s the end of a journey but also the beginning of a brand new one. A meditation of lost dreams and uncertain futures lifts into something ultimately hopeful that lives among “the garbage and the ash”: love hurts like hell, but it’s always worth rolling the dice on.
Strays represents something that Price will likely never get to again: a full summation of her life and work up to this point, all filtered through a kaleidoscopic lens. Deadly focused and incisively cutting, Price has her most complete and enjoyable album to date with Strays. It will surely be a tough act to follow.
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