Sera Cahoone - I've Missed You All These Years [Metallic Gold]

Sera Cahoone has been making quietly devastating records for two decades, first behind the kit for Carissa's Wierd and Band of Horses, then out front with a voice that never raises itself and never needs to. I've Missed You All These Years is her return to Sub Pop and her first album in some time, and the title tells you most of what the record is about.

These are country songs in the way Cahoone has always written country songs: pedal steel and brushed drums, plainspoken lyrics, and an emotional register that sits somewhere between resignation and warmth. "Not How I Hoped" was the single that introduced the album, paired with a video, and it is the clearest statement of the record's mood. "Say Something" and "Pulling Up Roots" followed, both built on the kind of slow, circling melodies she has made her own.

What separates Cahoone from the crowded Americana field is restraint. She leaves gaps where other writers would add a bridge, and she trusts a single held note to do the work of a chorus. The songs are short, the arrangements are spare, and nothing is oversold.

This is the indie exclusive pressing on metallic gold vinyl for Sub Pop.