Track This: Kathleen Edwards's "Options Open."

Kathleen Edwards's new album Total Freedom (Dualtone) is her first album in eight years, but she has not missed a beat. Her songwriting is still warm, evocative, and thoughtful. Wry observations about relationships, character studies, and songs about death and aging set a familiar tone for an album that is realistic yet positive despite the darker subject matter. Not as complex as Voyageur, my favorite record of 2012, it is still a strong contender for my best record list of 2020. 

The first single "Options Open" is one of her best both lyrically and musically and capturing doubts similar to those that led her to stop making music and open up her coffee shop, Quitters. The song is both optimistic and realistic and could be as much about career changes as relationships. She sings, "There were some things behind me / An open door I did not close when I was lonely / But I swore I wouldn't go near you with a ten-foot pole / It's not my fault that I wasn't sure." The narrator acknowledges her inability to make life decisions on her own, especially as she nears or passes age 39, a year much discussed in music because most of us do not want to get older and be seen as past our prime. For example, Jerry Lee Lewis's "39 and Holding" includes a narrator doing all he can to prove his masculinity as he ages. Edwards's song shows that despite the narrator's insecurities, she is willing to make necessary life changes "'cause nobody's harder on me than me." We root for the narrator because this is a life realization that many of us can surely understand. Lyrically, the chorus is simple: " For 39 years, I've been keeping my options open." However, the narrator's quest to keep her options open might be a bluff because she needs others to help her, even as she realizes her strength is a formidable part of what keeps her going from day to day. 

In a recent live virtual session with Bill DeVille for The Current, Edwards referred to her sound as "Canadiana," when he mentioned that she fits into the Americana genre -- a fair distinction because Edwards's songs reflect a sense of longing that seems apt for colder climates and shorter days. This reflection might just be my Wisconsin bias that gravitates toward a type of loneliness that is distinctly coded in the autumnal and the wintery. 

Musically, "Options Open" is catchy and buoyant, an excellent choice for a single because of its hook and melody. The guitars ring clean, and Edwards's vocals are clear and hopeful sounding. The song is purely Kathleen Edwards with clever turns of phrases and folk-rock flourishes but is more insistent than many of the other songs on the album. After the fade-in, the song builds. Guitar lines fade in and out between Edward's vocals as the rhythm section provides a steady beat. Her vocals and the intertwining electric and acoustic guitars are the stars of the show trading places with each other in a type of harmony that mirrors the lyrical content. The quieter instrumentation buoys Edwards's vocals. The song's power lies in how the guitars and drums work to lift Edwards up, giving the song an optimism that seems all too necessary in 2020.

     



Track This is a recurring feature of Snobbin' that turns the music appreciation dial up and rips it off of your stereo. It introduces a new track, allows readers to rediscover an underappreciated one, and serves as a forum to discuss a song that falls into the ear candy category and should be listened to unabashedly for years to come.

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