By Stevie Connor.
Terra Lightfoot’s newest single may have been written in a cemetery, but its message is far from death. Written in London during AmericanaFest UK, “Someone Else’s Feelings” dives into how powerful other’s words can be in our own mind, sometimes trumping one’s own feelings or emotions.
“I remember standing in a room full of songwriters and someone was talking about doing an upcoming Bob Dylan tribute night, and they said “Isn’t it just so easy to sing someone else’s feelings?” I excused myself and went to an old cemetery across the road from the venue, and the song fell out amongst a few British teenagers who were up to no good nearby. (They left me alone, though.) “Someone Else’s Feelings”, to me, was written about how we sometimes let other people’s opinions and feelings dictate how we feel about a situation. Sometimes we make excuses for other people, or we don’t speak up when we know someone is saying something we don’t agree with. The phrase in the last verse “Hung that picture in the hall” is about how we sometimes carry other people’s opinions and words with us into our own worlds, and sometimes hold them in higher regard than our own emotions.”
With 2023’s new album Healing Power (out October 13, 2023 on Sonic Unyon Records), Lightfoot showcases her considerable clout as a pop songsmith, delivering a dozen stunning tracks that together represent a career high. The album is her third outing with producer Gus van Go, and it is tribute to her creative ambitions and capacity that the collaboration is yet another quantum leap in her artistic development. “There was a sense of freedom, both personally and creatively, that struck me while I was writing this record,” Lightfoot says. “Once I got back into the studio with Gus, having already made two records with him, there was an undeniable comfort and workflow that we just fell into. We are super productive together in the studio. I also seem to get my best vocal takes with Gus behind the board. We built this record pretty quickly together with the band on call whenever we needed them.”
Healing Power delivers the peerless pop-rock album that fans have long known that she always had in her. The set captures the crackling chemistry of the core live trio — most of the album finds Lightfoot backed by bassist Elijah Abrams and Blue Rodeo’s Glenn Milchem on drums. This compact and capable team of players reinforces the strengths of Lightfoot's remarkable material. From hand-clapping head-turner “Cross Border Lovers” through the cinematic ballad “Out Of Time” that closes it, Lightfoot’s artistic range is again on full display, and her musical talents never short of dazzling. A buoyant pop-rock record at its core, Healing Power is a prismatic tour de force from the charismatic rocker.
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