ANGEL FOOD
ARTIST: VICTORIA WOODWORTH
TRACKS: 10
GENRE: AMERICANA/COUNTRY
WHAT THIS ALBUM DOES WELL: I have always had this great connection to Victoria's music. She is an amazing melodic storyteller that seemingly in every track takes you on this journey through thoughts,m introspectives, and just keen observations. There is this down home, rainy day element to her storytelling and songwriting that I think has this super impressive cadence. Angel Food easily fits right into her sound, her voice, and her lexicon.
Yet that being said there is this interesting nuance to it that I think I haven't heard from her before, there's a nice mix of instruments here that each kind of step up into a different song and provide the backbone. Victoria could easily strum her guitar and play these songs acoustically and they would be equally amazing and she has done that on albums before, but there is a layering of production here that shows a level up to help along her already amazing storytelling. There is some amazing production here, the sounds are crisp, clear, and yet they still muddy up with some grit when needed, some spirit when called on, and that foggy rainy day feeling I was speaking about before. It's the kind of step up that I think shows a new level of enhancement to the albums previous. The words are beautiful. Like in "Ashes and Snow" (my favorite track on the album) she sings, "I woke today hollow like a hurricane went through, but when I had every little thing that reminded me of you." Or in " Angel Food" when she proclaims "I don't know in this moment quite where I will go but you will be fine".
Victoria's prowess is on full display here as well. She picks like it was soft tethering of strings being weaved into a spider web. She belts out notes and holds them as if were her last breath. These all add the depths of what can only be described as an experience. I have always admired her passion and strength even when she is singing about the most harrowing and heartfelt emotional gut punches and lingering aches. Among all that is this unique beauty of optimism that I always feel like, even in a sad song, she gives you a chance to cry, to think, and smile. This album has so much going for it and I have maybe 1 skip in it and a couple I have played to exhaustion. It's really amazing to see an artist who you have met, talked to, and followed for so a bit now, find another step up the ladder and just give you something so rich and powerful as Angel Food does.
WHY CHAMPION THIS ARTIST AND ALBUM: The way these come out cleanly there is just this extra feeling that Victoria and the musicians she worked with took their time, really dug in, and gave this the type of elbow grease full of blood, sweat, and tears that endears you to really listening to the "something being said here" aspect. I think there isn't enough of that in this world, let alone the music industry. I also think that means this album deserves our attention and at the very least a listen. If you are a country fan or raod poetic songwriting fan, Victoria is going to immediately grba you and pull you in. This music is not going to be for everyone, no music is, but for those who are tired of being sheltered by musicians just trying to find a one hit, and not giving everything they have raw and exposed like Victoria has since I first heard her, then I think you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
YOU CAN GET ANGEL FOOD (and I hghly recommend Faultline- one of my all time favorite albums) HERE: https://www.victoriawoodworthmusic.com/music
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