The Weather Station: Humanhood (digital outlets)

This is a much anticipated album given Canada's Tamara Lindeman (AKA The Weather Station) appeared as one of our best of 2021 albums with the beautifully arranged Ignorance which explored literal and existential loss brought on by the disconnect between Nature and humanity.

It won considerable critical acclaim but somewhat overlooked was the introspective piano-led companion album How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars the following year.

It is well worth seeking out, especially if Ignorance crossed your path.

This more thoroughly conceived and arranged follow-up to Ignorance however comes with a frisson of pain and struggle, and perhaps even a sense of defeat in the face of all the problems the world faces.

Her late-career success – she'd released four albums before Ignorance and was in her late 30s – seemed to only bring stress to the point of mental health issues which she addresses in this candid album which opens with: “I've gotten used to feeling like I'm crazy, or just lazy. Why can't I get off this floor?”

With similar folk-jazz qualities of Joni Mitchell, subtle electronica and brief instrumental interpolations, Humanhood deals directly with her internal confusions and the inexplicably chaotic world we have to confront.

But she concludes “My pain is ordinary, I'm just like anybody”. Which actually offers comfort, she is not alone in feeling pain.

Not an easy collection charting a healing journey from self-doubt to acceptance in the face of environmental disaster, but meticulously arranged and delivered with intense honesty.

Courageously perhaps, Lindeman confronts the world and finds it – and sometimes her place within it -- wanting.

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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here