Mikaela Davis – And Southern Star (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Mikaela Davis – And Southern Star (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:53 minutes | 855 MB | Genre: Folk, Blues
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Kill Rock Stars

Five years since her debut album Delivery, Mikaela Davis has moved away from her hometown of Rochester, shared the stage with the likes of Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Christian McBride, Bon Iver, Lake Street Dive and Circles Around the Sun and entered a new decade – But it’s the ever-evolving relationships between her closest friends and bandmates that has propelled the Hudson Valley-based artist onto her latest album And Southern Star–a truly collaborative effort that ruminates on the choices we make, and the people we always come back to. The band, made up of Davis (harp/vocals), Alex Cote (drums), Cian McCarthy (guitars/vocals), Shane McCarthy (bass/vocals) and Kurt Johnson (steel guitar), have been playing together for over a decade and it’s the first time they’ve appeared on a full length record together. Weaving 60s pop-soaked melodies, psychedelia and driving folk rock, And Southern Star picks apart the reflection we used to recognise, while trying to build a new one. It navigates the periphery of past selves, the coexistence of isolation and excitement in a new environment and the tension of growing away from what we thought we wanted, tackling it with a luscious, kaleidoscopic grace. “I finally feel like this album is more me than anything else that’s been released,” Davis says, adding that producing the album along with her four bandmates allowed them to carve out their own ideas, rather than someone else’s. It’s the band’s collective step into adulthood that has informed much of And Southern Star’s thematic landscape.

Much has happened in the five years since Mikaela Davis released her debut album, Delivery. For starters, the harpist-vocalist moved away from her hometown of Rochester, NY, and settled in the artist-friendly Hudson Valley region. Davis also shared the stage with Grateful Dead band members Bob Weir and Phil Lesh, along with Christian McBride, Bon Iver, and Circles Around the Sun.

Davis pours all of this experience into the beatific new album, And Southern Star, a cohesive collection encompassing pastoral ’70s pop (“The Pearl”), gentle psychedelia (“Promise”) and folk-rock (“Home in the Country”). Davis’s delicate harp adds a layer of shimmer to opening track “Cinderella,” while her soft-touch vocals—which at times resemble Sheryl Crow, particularly on “Saturday Morning”—amplify the emotional atmospheres.

More salient, Davis also recorded And Southern Star with her long-time band members, whose creative input and musical flourishes perfectly complement her intricate harp playing. Jaunty steel guitar pirouettes through the standout “One of These Days,” while the needling guitars on “Promise” add an evocative edge.

In a nod to Davis’s associations with the Dead, And Southern Star ends with an extended instrumental outro that blooms out of the final song, “Don’t Stop Now.” With its off-kilter cosmic keyboards and jammy guitar bursts, the section is adventurous and unexpected—the perfect exclamation point to an equally thrilling album. – Annie Zaleski

Tracklist:
1-1. Mikaela Davis – Cinderella (05:14)
1-2. Mikaela Davis – Home in the Country (03:38)
1-3. Mikaela Davis – One of These Days (03:37)
1-4. Mikaela Davis – Promise (02:59)
1-5. Mikaela Davis – The Pearl (03:09)
1-6. Mikaela Davis – Saturday Morning (04:45)
1-7. Mikaela Davis – Far From You (04:32)
1-8. Mikaela Davis – Don’t Stop Now (05:09)
1-9. Mikaela Davis – Leave It Alone (07:46)

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