When singer and songwriter Michaela Anne released the album Desert Dove in 2019, it was the work of a woman trying to reinvent herself as an artist. Three years later, she brought us Oh to Be That Free, in which she tries to reinvent herself as a person. The years that followed the release of Desert Dove were not easy for Michaela; she came to terms with a self-destructive drinking habit and worked hard to get sober, she and her husband discovered they were going to have a baby, and midway through her pregnancy, she became her mother's caretaker in the wake of a severe stroke. Between it all, she did a lot of soul searching, and that introspection shapes the songs on Oh to Be That Free. The opening track, "I'm Only Human," is an unsparing summary of her virtues and weaknesses, with the title phrase feeling as if it could be a celebration or an excuse depending on your perceptions. In these 11 songs, Michaela takes a long, hard look at the sort of wrong turns ordinary people can take, and as is often the case, she's tougher on herself in tunes like "Chasing Days" and "I'm Only Human" than when she weighs her options about a new love in "Who You Are," though whoever inspired the scathing "Dirty Secrets" would probably not want to admit it in public. The most common themes on Oh to Be That Free are healing and trying to reclaim the serenity they once knew, even as she acknowledges how hard that can be. (One of the album's most powerful songs, "Good People," tries to unpack many levels of poor judgment in the unexpectedly complicated line "I want to think good people hurt good people too.") Baring her soul pays off for Michaela on Oh to Be That Free -- her vocals reveal a depth and emotional daring that stands head and shoulders above the fine work on her previous LPs, and producer Aaron Shafer-Haiss blends the powerfully atmospheric textures of Desert Dove with a more straightforward instrumental approach that serves the truth-telling of the songs beautifully. Oh to Be That Free may have begun as an effort for Michaela Anne to come to terms with some serious emotional baggage, but the finished product is a beautiful and powerful set of music that will speak to anyone who has been forced to take a challenging uphill climb in their life.
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