Plenty of fans of indie folk have been following The Staves since their second album, If I Was, because the record was co-signed and produced by Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. That kind of high-profile collaborator is a boon for independent artists, particularly women, who don’t always get the attention they deserve on their own merits. Luckily, the co-sign helped catapult the sisters to bigger stages and now they’re focused on family for a new project that came after a six-year hiatus.
After If I Was came out in 2015, the sisters were touring and working on new music, but all of that came to a halt when their mother unexpectedly died in 2018. This loss contributed to the long gap between albums, as did Camilla Stavely-Taylor’s decision to leave a longterm relationship and return to England. Both of those events, and the grief that comes with them, informed the songwriting and feel of Good Woman.
It’s more experimental and than their last album, which tended toward straightforward melodic folk. There’s electronic pulses and warbles here, more guitars, more percussion. Good Woman still boasts a big name producer in John Congleton, but it’s an album only these sisters could make. Check out the video for the title track above and listen to the entire album below.