Anna Tivel’s seventh studio album, Animal Poem, finds the Portland singer-songwriter expanding the scope of her already striking folk sound, blending intimate storytelling with more colorful and dynamic arrangements. From the opening track, “Holy Equation,” the album establishes a careful balance between poetic observation and musical nuance, pairing Tivel’s hushed, expressive vocals with subtle horns and delicate nylon-string guitar. The result is music that feels both immediate and carefully crafted, setting the tone for an album that is as thoughtful as it is immersive.
Across ten tracks, Tivel explores both human and natural landscapes, often grounding her vivid imagery in specific times and places. Standouts like “Hough Ave, 1966” recount personal and historical moments with an acute sense of empathy, while the title track Animal Poem presents quiet, elegiac vignettes of everyday struggle, highlighting resilience and fleeting beauty. Tivel’s lyrics are layered and meticulous, drawing listeners into the lives of her characters without ever losing the sense of narrative poetry that defines her work.
Musically, the album ventures beyond the simplicity of past records, incorporating jazz-inflected textures, flowing piano lines, and gentle, sometimes surprising percussion. “White Goose” and “Fluorescence in the Future” showcase this atmospheric richness, turning nature into a character in itself, while tracks like “Airplane to Nowhere” flirt with psychedelic folk-rock elements, expanding Tivel’s sonic palette without compromising her folk roots. The arrangements feel alive, often recorded live with the musicians surrounding Tivel, giving the songs an intimacy and immediacy that enhances the storytelling.
Despite its more expansive sound, Animal Poem retains the tenderness and reflective clarity that has always been central to Tivel’s songwriting. Songs such as “Meantime” and the closing “The Humming” provide quiet moments of introspection, grounding the album’s more animated textures in warmth and humanity. Even as the album critiques modern hardships and inequities, Tivel’s voice conveys measured hope, offering a sense of connection and shared experience.
Animal Poem is both a natural evolution and a vivid statement of artistic purpose. Tivel balances lyrical precision with expansive musicality, crafting an album that rewards close listening while remaining emotionally immediate. It confirms her status as one of contemporary folk’s most insightful and inventive voices, and it demonstrates her willingness to stretch the genre’s boundaries while remaining deeply rooted in human observation and poetic storytelling. – Jason Felton
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNMHG7fbCB4&list=RDuNMHG7fbCB4&start_radio=1