The sisters return with a powerful look of self-reflection.
It’s been a while since we’ve heard the wonderful vocals and songwriting of The Staves, their last proper album dropping back in 2015. But if “Devotion” is anything to go by, it will have been worth the wait. The song wonderfully builds over the course of four minutes, the trio finding more intricacies in their harmonies as it moves forward. Fingersnaps are gradually joined by drumbeats, as The Staves sing together beautifully about an unhealthy relationship over piano chords and touches of ringing guitar strings. “And its happening again,” they repeat over and over, ending with the admittance that “Devotion be the death of me.”
As the band said, “This song came from a feeling of being totally at the mercy of someone else. Being a passenger and never a driver in any situation. Being blinded by devotion and unable to navigate the way out.”
“Devotion” will appear on Good Woman, out on Feb. 5 via Nonesuch.