Lissie
Lissie’s Carving Canyons finds the acclaimed singer-songwriter digging deep to carry on through life’s many uncertainties. The singer-songwriter’s fifth album is her most personal expression yet, with twelve songs that chart the ripples caused by heartbreak and loneliness as well as what happens when the soul perseveres amidst pain. Carving Canyons is as deeply felt as Lissie’s music has ever been, with sumptuous production and indelible melodies that will surely stand the test of time.
Carving Canyons came about at Lissie’s own pace, following tour outings behind 2018’s Castles and the piano-based retrospective When I’m Alone from 2019. “It wasn’t a time where I felt like I had a lot to say,” she recalls, “and each record typically comes from a shift in my life where I need to share things.” As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world, Lissie was also dealing with an impactful breakup on her Iowa farm. “It was such a heavy time—not just for me but for the world, of course—and I needed love, support, and connection,” she says. “Because there was so much isolation, it was an important period of time for me to explore some of my dark places and process it all.”
As Lissie took in the nature and observed the seasons changing around her and within her, the songs that would make up Carving Canyons started to flow from her. “Sometimes, as seeds begin to sprout, you have to thin them out so that the ones you keep have enough space to grow and thrive,” she sagely states while reflecting on this time. “It’s a metaphor for making space for what matters, a brutal, beautiful cycle that can also be very healing, and it all comes from surrender. Furthermore, with the right amount of time, so much can grow and change so quickly. The garden was a helpful reminder to have hope for the future.”
Her independence within the context of the music industry—which she’s maintained since releasing 2016’s My Wild West on her Lionboy label—also enabled her to write straight from the heart, without feeling rushed by deadlines: “I really only write when I’m bursting at the seams, and it’s such a therapeutic thing to do. These songs become the listeners’ songs too, and hopefully it helps them deal with their emotions as well. It’s all universal.”
Overall, Carving Canyons is about looking within while dealing with the uncertainty of the future—finding hope in personal and worldly adversity, no matter what the forecast might say. “Some days it was so terrifying that I didn’t know how to carry on—and then I realized, ‘How exciting. What a gift,’” Lissie recalls while discussing her frame of mind while making the record. “The road in front of me is wide open.” Accordingly, Carving Canyons is another step in an impressive career that opens up endless possibilities for what’s to come.