Singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton announced that she’s releasing a new album, Liberman, on October 23rd, 2015.
Earlier in July 2015, Carlton released an EP, Blue Pool, which exposed her fans to several of the tracks that have made the final cut of Liberman, such as “Take It Easy” and “Blue Pool.” Additionally, two more Blue Pool songs – “Operator (Live Living Room Session)” and “Nothing Where Something Used To Be (Live Living Room Session)”, respectively – are featured on the deluxe version of Liberman.
Liberman is reflective of Carlton’s current state of mind, as she’s grown and evolved, with in her personal and family life. In the last several years, she relocated from New York City to Nashville; married John McCauley of Deer Tick in a ceremony officiated by a longtime friend of Carlton’s – rock legend Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac; and Carlton welcomed a baby girl with her husband.
“The album was really done, like, a year ago, Carlton said in an interview with USA Today, but had been put “on pause,” as these changes in her life unfolded.
This personal growth has brought out a new side in her professional career, too. On the 10 tracks that appear which on Liberman, as she did with the songs on Blue Pool, Carlton utilizes simple instrumentation combined with poignant lyrical lines, and a local style that carries with it a sense of nostalgia. These three devices capture listeners’ ears and bring them into the world that Carlton is seeking to create within her songwriting.
The album’s title, Liberman, was the given name of Carlton’s grandfather, who had done a colorful oil painting that proved to be particularly inspiring to his granddaughter.
“The swirly colors of that painting reminded me of the music and the music reminds me of those colors,” Carlton said in a press release. “Then I looked up what Liberman means and it’s ‘honorable man’ and ‘my beloved’ – all these things that just felt right to me. It’s a strong family name that, in a weird way, describes the music to me.”
In celebration of the album announcement, Carlton gifted her fans with a lyric video of her latest song from the new album, “Willows,” which premiered on USA Today.
This song finds her taking a more straight-forward approach, in contrast to other songs on Liberman, with “galloping piano apreggios” that lead Carlton to nickname it her “headless horseman song,” according to USA Today.
“It reminds me of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” she said in an interview with USA Today, “the headless-horseman run at the end, where it’s coming out of the forest.”
Check out “Willows,” along with the artwork and tracklisting for Liberman, below.
Liberman Track Listing:
1. Take It Easy
2. Willows
3. House of Seven Words
4. Operator
5. Blue Pool
6. Nothing Where Something Used To Be
7. Matter of Time
8. Unlock the Lock
9. River
10. Ascension
Liberman (Deluxe Edition) Track Listing:
1. Blue Pool (Living Room Session)
2. River (Living Room Session)
3. Take it Easy (Living Room Session)
4. Willows (Living Room Session)
5. House of Seven Swords (Original Demo)
6. Operator (Living Room Session)
7. Unlock the Lock (Living Room Session)
8. Nothing Where Something Used to Be (Living Room Session)
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