New album: Brandi Carlile's subtle humanity magic

It's more than unfair that Brandi Carlile has increasingly gained a reputation as a rock 'n' roll geriatric nurse over the past six years. We owe the return of Laurel Canyon legend Joni Mitchell after a brain aneurysm to her. She inspired the initially grumbling Elton John to record their joint album "Who Believes in Angels?", a carefree blast of pop and rock 'n' roll.

It's said that John used it to build a colorful bridge to his great albums of the 1970s. And what did Carlile, the eleven-time Grammy Award winner, suggest?

The 44-year-old is still sometimes mistaken for Belinda Carlisle in Germany, and then people sing "Heaven is a Place on Earth" from 1987. Brandi Carlile was six years old at the time and listened to country music in Ravensdale, Washington.

Just six months after "Angels?" comes her own album, a beauty in ten songs, her eighth solo work since 2005 and her most charming aside from the voluptuous "By The Way, I Love You" (2018). It's called "Returning to Myself" because, after all those years working for others, she had, as she revealed to the "New York Times," "totally forgotten how to stand on my own two feet."

And then she wrote down two questions: "Why is it heroic to break away? How can loneliness be a holy grail?" First it was a poem, then the title track.

The ten songs are predominantly calm and flowing, folky-scented drifts with a touch of Americana, characterized by this voice, expressive even in a whisper. It carries you along when it tries to resolve a sense of alienation in the delicate "Anniversary," until the strings sigh their sigh: "Give me space from the distance / a respite from the silence."

The song "Human," which posits humanity, grows into an anthem. "A War with Time" speaks of loss and disappearance. Time ends everything, and Carlile finds beauty in this vulnerability.

"Church & State" is the breakout, a rocker, a song she wrote deep in the night of the 2024 election. It contains a quote from Thomas Jefferson from 1802 against the union of church and state, which has been unfortunately taking place in the US for some time now with the rigid evangelicals.

And in the horror of the America-destroyers of “Trump 2,” she consoles herself with the fact that “they don’t live forever (…) they are here today and gone forever tomorrow.”

For Brandi Carlile, returning to oneself simply means that one can think and act more socially from this point. The album is a celebration of multiplicity. Even the older generation is present in various ways. Elton John plays the Rhodes piano on the simmering "You Without Me," a tender song about the children who will surely leave. And Joni Mitchell gets the song "Joni," a Mitchellesque song about their time together. Brandi tells Joni "I love you," and she says "okay." During the audition, Mitchell laughed at unexpected moments.

The final lines of the title song send a powerful message: “Coming back to me / is just giving me back to you / and that’s the only thing / I want.”

Brandi Carlile – “Returning to Myself” (Lost Highway) – album released on October 24, 2025

Brandi Carlile – “The Human Tour”, Europe: Germany: Düsseldorf, Mitsubishi Electric Halle on October 26; Ireland: Dublin, 3Arena on October 15; UK: Manchester, Co-op Live on October 18; Glasgow, OVO Hydro on October 19; London, The O2 on October 21; France: Paris, La Seine Musicale on October 23; Switzerland: Zurich, The Hall on October 24; Netherlands: Amsterdam, AFAS Live on October 27; Norway: Oslo, Oslo Spektrum on October 29; Sweden: Stockholm, Annexet on October 30.