For those not familiar with Ruthie Collins, ignore her at your detriment – Cold Comfort is one of the most stunning, layered and complex albums we have heard in a while. We review the album here and reveal our standout tracks.
In these days of isolation, the time is right for a true ‘record,’ a creation thought through from start to finish. Enter into the mix, the new album by Ruthie Collins – Cold Comfort. For someone unfamiliar before with Collins music, the record took me personally completely off guard. From start to finish, the record is clever, nuanced, rich with emotion and is delivered stunningly both in production and in Collins’ gorgeously unique vocal. Speaking to us earlier this week, Collins said that this is the record she ‘always wanted to put out’ and this record is full of sincerity and authenticity. It is mature, poised and vulnerable. What. An. Album.
It is a brave artist that can really bare their whole soul to the world – not just the good parts – but that is what Collins has done here, in this record rife with repeated self-examination throughout, as she navigates through the rise and fall of a relationship, dealing with pain and her partner’s addiction.
The record opens with stunning opener ‘Joshua Tree,’ where Ruthie draws parallels between her own experience and the tragic love story of Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons. Inspired by reading an article about the story, Collins related to the story personally and in her love for Emmylou as an artist. As she says, ‘I don’t know where this came from, but it’s really changed my life, personally, career, I have a hundred thousand strange stories I can tell you about that song that are just weird and wild.’ The song sonically and lyrically is full of Laurel Canyon references, and is a stunning vocal introduction to Collins, breathing a vulnerability into the song that is necessary to bring the tale to life. The song is unusual, down to the hints at wanting to bring Parsons back to life, but it is this quirk that makes it magical. The same theme comes back of untold love on later track ‘Untold.’ Here, Collins’ vocal is stunningly fragile on ‘Untold,’ where she takes you on a hypnotic tale of an untold love that has a celestial build to it.
If the first song doesn’t draw you in, Collins gets even deeper in the record. In ‘Cheater,’ Collins grapples with feelings for a new man, whilst feeling like she is cheating on her ex. Similarly, ‘Cold Comfort’ itself deals with the complexities of relationships and making peace with a relationship that wasn’t meant to be – the guilt and shame of letting go and in her own words ‘This relationship [not] being what I thought it was – maybe it wasn’t as meaningful as I thought it was.’ This is the magic of Collins’ songwriting, her ability to really go there and reveal every part of herself, even if it is riddled with harder emotions, like shame and guilt and even moral quandaries, it is all here in this record.
‘Dang Dallas’ deals with a different emotion – that of regret. Here, Collins delves into the struggles of coping with a life that could have been, looking at a friend who gave up on music to get a ‘real job.’ Collins’ vocal is gloriously fragile and delicate here for the highest notes and rich in the lower register, ending with a glorious strings section that is simply majestic.
Sonically darker, ‘Hey Little Girl’ drives with a throbbing beat as does ‘Bad Woman,’ where Collins imagines a world where she throws away moral responsibility and lays her heart bare. The sequencing of this album, allows Collins to take you on a sonic and emotional journey that is incredibly powerful.
‘Wish You Were Here’ is the personal highlight of the record, where Collins yearns for a lover for a lover who yearns for someone else. ‘I wish you were here, and you wish I was her.’ The instrumentation here is simply flawless, backed with lap-steel and bass that adds a driving beat, but adds to the heartache of Collins vocal that is vulnerable and innately strong on this track. Not to be outdone, ‘You Can’t Remember’ is another heart-wrenching moment, dealing with loving an addict. The emotion is ever present in Collins’ vocal, where you can hear the tears in her voice – a genius moment of production – it is gut-wrenchingly tender.
Cold Comfort is a flawless creation. It is so complex, deep, personal and intimate. It is the record that is needed right now and it feels like Collins has laid her soul bare to her audience, inviting them into the most innermost and intimate part of her psyche. Production-wise the record is flawlessly poised and mature and vocally Collins delivers time and time again, with every track revealing a different asset to her vocal. The authenticity in the record is what we all need from music right now and Collins has been brave enough to really go there here. In her own words, ‘Shit got too real in my life and I wanted to sing about what I was really going through, because I felt that if I wasn’t my authentic self it wasn’t going to work anyway. I just decided to not be scared and put out the record I wanted to put out. I snuck into the studio to record it – almost got dropped for it – but they decided that they loved it and here we are. It’s been such a wild ride.’ Emotionally then, Collins takes you on a journey so intimate it feels spiritual. We can’t wait to see where this record takes her. Cold Comfort is a masterpiece.
Editor’s Picks
You Can’t Remember
Joshua Tree
Wish You Were Here
