‘Green’ by Karen Elson

Karen Elson has been at this for some time, having released two full-length studio albums to date. However, as she found herself quarantining during the pandemic like us all, she found herself drawn away from the dark sounds she had previously explored and towards something lighter, reigniting her passion for music in the process.

Studying musical heroes like Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan, Elson took to the acoustic guitar and created playlists charting her new path of musical inspiration, which she was finally able to take into the studio once the pandemic began to subside. The result is her third studio album, ‘Green’.

Delving deep into Elson’s deepest feelings, the album creates a lush acoustic soundscape for listeners to get lost in, such as the atmospheric and melancholic title track, ‘Green’. She’s unafraid to up the tempo, such as the country-flavoured tune “Lightning Strikes”, or lighten the tone, such as with the gentle contemporary satire of “Modern Love”, creating a richly varied collection of songs.

On the album, Elson says, “The lyrics poured out of me. You’re recognizing we’re all flawed, complicated, and a little bit fucked up and making peace with that. You’re loving the broken parts of yourself. COVID strangely catapulted me into this frame of deep reflection. I did a lot of work to reconcile places in the past I deemed broken or complicated and showed the shadow back to myself. I’m telling the shadow, ‘You’re my friend and a part of me. Let’s continue’.”