Album review
Margo Price has announced Strays II, a companion to her most recent album Strays, which came out in January. Out October 13 via Loma Vista, the record features nine new songs the form of three acts: Topanga Canyon, Mind Travel, and Burn Whatever’s Left. Today, Price has shared the first act, which includes ‘Strays’, the Ny Oh-assisted ‘Closer I Get’, and ‘Malibu’, a collaboration with producer Jonathan Wilson and Big Thief’s Buck Meek. Take a listen below.
“The title track is the story of how my husband, Jeremy [Ivey], and I met and fell in love in Nashville two decades ago” Price explained in a statement. “I wrote most of the words and Jeremy wrote the chords and melody. It also reflects how we have always tried to stay true to who we are as people: ‘Love and pain it comes in waves but it was quite enough in those early days, we were wild as wolves my darlin’, we were strays.”
“‘Closer I Get’ (co-written with Jeremy Ivey) was originally meant to open this double album with the line, ‘Being alive costs a lot of money but so does dying,'” she added. “I’ve always thought it was unfair that the moment we are born, we immediately start racking up debt just for existing. This song was conjured from the ashes of our initial psychedelic trip—sometimes your perception and depth of field changes depending on where you’re at in life.”
Price continued: “‘Malibu’ was written with Mike Campbell in his Malibu home after Jeremy and I had driven through the canyon fleeing a forest fire to get my guitar from our Airbnb. I had the start of the song and brought it to him looking to finish it out. I wanted to write something with a country funk/Bobbie Gentry feel, a good long rambling story about the minutiae of the day, like ‘Ode to Billy Joe’. Mike added the long ‘California’ yodel and the bridge and was exactly what the song needed. My favorite line is ‘love and grief are a package deal, the more you have, the more you feel.”
Strays II Cover Artwork:
Strays II Tracklist:
1. Been to the Mountain
2. Light Me Up [feat. Mike Campbell]
3. Radio [feat. Sharon Van Etten]
4. Change of Heart
5. County Road
6. Time Machine
7. Hell in the Heartland
8. Anytime You Call [feat. Lucius]
9. Lydia
10. Landfill
