Cam's 'All Things Light' is one of the best albums of the year. Here's why.
But the singer-songwriter who has worked with Harry Styles, Miley Cyrus and Jack Antonoff and written five songs for Beyoncé's Grammy Award-winning epic 'Cowboy Carter,' has delivered many an emotive song of her own during her decade-plus career.
Her 2015 hit, 'Burning House,' ignited to the Top 5 of Billboard's country chart and was certified triple platinum, while a 2019 collaboration with Diplo, 'So Long,' dented the dance chart.
Cam's latest album, 'All Things Light,' (out now) is efficient, profound and one of the most quietly formidable of the year.
Cam, born Camaron Ochs, began writing songs for the album after she became a mother during the isolating early months of the pandemic. Her college years traveling through Nepal and Egypt and working as a psychology researcher at Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley, helped steer her toward meditation, which she relied on during that insulating period of parenting.
The dozen songs on 'All Things Light' reflect her thoughtfulness and her desire to impart wisdom to her daughter, Lucy (whose name is derived from the Latin word for 'light'). She accomplishes her goal through a genre-defying amalgamation of country, Americana, pop and soul.
The album's first single, 'Alchemy,' is an ideal platform for her crystalline voice and penchant for lush harmonies, while 'Slow Down' takes listeners on a 97-second stroll of strumming folk guitar and cheery whistling akin to vintage Loretta Lynn.
Cam, 40, inhabits a space similar to Brandi Carlile, her appealing songs making their point in a pure, expressive voice.
Here are a few of the best tracks on 'All Things Light.'
More: Dave Stewart was playing Dylan songs as a teen. Now he's made an album of them
'Just for You'
Cam is masterful at conveying deep feelings in few words. Another of her under-two-minutes songs says all it needs to under a blanket of glorious harmonizing that blends '60s-era girl group sensibilities with soul. 'If you want someone's shoulder, I've got two,' she offers in her honeyed voice, a simple proclamation that lands hard.
'Nevermine'
Songs about loves that just weren't meant to be aren't exactly original territory. But when Cam sings, ' I feel stupid/I feel bruised/I feel out of line/You were never mine to lose' under a canopy of bowed electric guitars trembling and melancholy piano plinking, she infuses a familiar sentiment with a dash of peaceful resignation.
'We Always Do'
Cam ends her album on a hopeful note. She promises faithfulness ('When you look in the mirror and see someone new/I will be here to remind you of you') and shares her vulnerability ('You let me storm off to avoid the monsoon/you know I can't sleep in the other room') with equal sincerity. Over chords from a Rhodes piano, gentle strings and a beat that sprints and slackens, Cam allows the song to trail off in a swirl of sound with a final message: 'You gotta try.'
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