- 2025-10-29
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MUSIC
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Brandi Carlile Releases New Album “Returning To Myself”
American singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile released her eighth studio album “Returning To Myself” on October 24, 2025 via Interscope Records and Lost Highway.
The album is the follow-up to the collaborative album “Who Believes In Angels?” with British singer-songwriter Elton John.
As the solo album, it is her first album in four years since the 2021 album “In These Silent Days”.
The album comprises 10 tracks, which Brandi Carlile recorded an co-produced with The American rock band The National's Aaron Dessner, Andrew Watt, and American indie folk band Bon Iver's Justin Vernon at Long Pond Studio in New York.
Brandi Carlile said of the album, “It's called 'Returning To Myself'. There are many reasons for this. It's not a 'solo' album. I'm always alone and never alone at the same time... It's just that it comes at a time where I'm reflecting and realizing that learning to stand alone is something that people are supposed to do when they're young. Like skiing or chickenpox. That if we miss our chance when the pain tolerance is at its highest, we may never do it. Fine with me. I'd rather fight off 'aloneness' forever. Why is it heroic to untether when the tense work of togetherness is so much more interesting? ...because I don't want to do it. Because I don't want to return to myself. And that's why I will.”- She continued, “It took a lot of steady souls to free me into myself on this project, including the Twins and my band. This album is produced by me, Andrew Watt, and Aaron Dessner, with some extra special fairy dust from Justin Vernon too. I have a lot more to say about this... What a wonderful thing to be carried and yet held up so high. Returning to myself is just returning me to you.”
- Producer Aaron Dessner said, “When Brandi Carlile came to visit me at Long Pond last year after completing years of work with Joni Mitchell and Elton John - We were both in times of transition. The most interesting music can happen when you feel lost in the woods and that's exactly what happened. I'm so grateful Brandi trusted me to find herself in these songs. Along the way, I got to work with Brandi's legendary bandmates Phil Hanseroth and Tim Hanseroth and the incredible Andrew Watt who is now a friend and collaborator and my best friend Justin Vernon joined us to sprinkle his inimitable magic. I couldn't be more proud and honored to be a part of it.”
Brandi Carlile explained some tracks for the album.
“Returning to Myself”
“I think people are going to hear that song in different ways. Some are going to hear it as a call to return to themselves. Some are going to hear it as a justification not to. And I love that about it because it is a deeply conflicting feeling. There is no a-ha moment in that song. It's just a contemplation of, 'Is enlightenment aloneness or is enlightenment learning togetherness and sacrificial love?'”
“Human” via Apple Music
“I do feel that every generation since recorded history believes that their generation is the one living through the end of the world. I think that's really comforting. And we do. We all see our conflicts and our wars and our political upheavals and tyranny and democracy in constant balance. We are in a loop, and the loop is the loop of humanity. And don't be apathetic. Don't ignore it. Don't look away. Do fight. Do be an activist. Do get out of bed every morning and think about how you can serve humanity. But also touch grass. Also realize that you're here for a split second and that you don't want to look back and realize you missed the whole thing because you believed you were living through the end of the world.”
Producer Aaron Dessner said, “When Brandi Carlile came to visit me at Long Pond last year after completing years of work with Joni Mitchell and Elton John - We were both in times of transition. The most interesting music can happen when you feel lost in the woods and that's exactly what happened.”
“A War With Time”
“'Hold their eyes make sure they know / stand your ground but see the soul / beneath the pain and broken home / with every drop of rain and bone / square your shoulders turn to stone / slowly shake your head for no / When you find yourself alone / retrace your steps and come back home.' When Aaron Dessner played me this otherworldly riff I saw the song unfold in front of my eyes like a black and white movie of my own memories... Love and gratitude to my soul brother Justin Vernon for singing with me on this one.”
“Church & State” via Apple Music
“We were set up to jam and that song was really carnal. We were in a circle. It was like rock 'n' roll time, and it was November 5th, the night of the [2024] election. I went into the studio, laptop open, spiraling, just not doing great emotionally. I mean, I knew what was coming. I had written 'Human' the night before, and it was like a primal cry for self-preservation in a way, and not just for me, for everybody.”
“You Without Me” via CBS Sunday Morning
“The concept that you have these children and you try not to project yourself onto them and believe that they're a mini you, you know? But the moment they show you they're not, the moment they show you who they really are, and that they're ready to leave you in a way, is such a devastating and proud moment at the same time. It's a confusing feeling.”
“No One Knows Us” via Apple Music
“'No One Knows Us', I would think like, if I really think about it in terms of, like safety, or feeling safe or being in a safe place, it's more of nostalgia for not having any safe place and feeling safe anyway. And it's about like these relationships that are just like, right on the edge of okay. And they're always the best ones. Those are the people that maybe you don't see them very up, and when you see them, you're like, you're back. These dysfunctional relationships that are just right on the edge of, like, taking you down.” - source : Apple Music
