After a six-year album hiatus, The Staves have just announced their latest album Good Woman. Due for release in February 2021, the album was written in a time of severe turmoil for the trio of sisters, seeing the ending of relationships as well as the passing of family members. However, like all prolific artists do, the siblings have created a beacon of light in their darkness. They have transformed the pain and anguish they have all experienced into a testament of strength, sisterhood, and womanhood, which Good Woman poignantly embodies.
Two tracks released earlier this year (“Nazareth” and “Trying”) marked the band’s first new music since their collaborative EP with the New York-based chamber ensemble yMusic back in 2017. Now, they’ve unveiled the tender title track from their upcoming album.
The Staves are renowned for their luscious three-part vocal harmonies. “Good Woman” hones in on this trademark from the offset, gently laying the foundations for the chordal structure and honest lyrical content that follows. The lyrics juxtapose in sections around the subject of a woman’s individuality within a relationship. The verse sections focus on situations where that individuality feels lost: “Erased in the light / I feel like a fool / ‘Cause a game isn’t fun / If I never know the rules.”
Meanwhile, the chorus sections revolve around the same uplifting mantra that ultimately comes to define the spirit of the song. The lines simply but effectively read, “I’m a good woman,” which encourages all women who may not feel like they’re enough in their relationships to feel worthy and be proud of who they are in their own skin.
To accompany the release, the band also filmed a special live version of the track. Shot in Sunbeam Studios in London (all socially distanced of course), the live version further exposes both the tender and uplifting qualities of the track. What’s more, The Staves have also been announced as part of a series of live shows in London which, hopefully, heralds an encouraging boost for the UK live music industry.
“Good Woman,” with its honest, uplifting mantra, provides the most tantalizing taster yet of what’s to come next year from The Staves.