| Total Freedom | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 14, 2020 | |||
| Recorded | 2019–2020 | |||
| Genre | Alt-country | |||
| Length | 38:36 | |||
| Label | Dualtone | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Kathleen Edwards chronology | ||||
| ||||
Total Freedom is the fifth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards. It was released by Dualtone Records on August 14, 2020. [1]
In 2014, two years after the success of her album Voyageur , Edwards decided to quit music and open a coffee shop in Stittsville called Quitters. [2] [3] Edwards returned to music in 2017 after Maren Morris invited her to write a song for her album, Girl . [4] As a result, Edwards began writing and recording songs for her own album. [3] The album was recorded at studios in Stittsville, Nashville, and Kingston. [5] The album was produced by Edwards alongside co-producers Jim Bryson and Ian Fitchuk. [1]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 7.4/10 [6] |
| Metacritic | 80/100 [7] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [8] |
| American Songwriter | [9] |
| Exclaim! | 7/10 [10] |
| Financial Times | [11] |
| Paste | 8/10 [12] |
| Pitchfork | 7.8/10 [13] |
| PopMatters |   [2] |
| Uncut | 8/10 [5] |
Total Freedom received positive reviews from music critics, who lauded the album as a fitting return for Edwards. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 80, based on eight reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews" from reviews. [7]
Steve Horowitz of PopMatters praised the album, writing "the songs are lyrically delightful and melodically charming ... Edwards' delightfully delivers her insights, even the unpleasant ones." [2] Writing for AllMusic, Mark Deming opined, "However long she decides to keep writing and singing her songs, we can only be grateful for the tough, heartfelt beauty she's chosen to share." [8]
In a more critical review of the album, Hal Horowitz of American Songwriter wrote that "her singing remains strong and she is emoting about issues close to her, these tracks would benefit from more musical muscle." However, Horowitz later noted "even if Total Freedom isn’t her finest work, it’s encouraging that Edwards has returned to releasing new material and doing what she does best." [9]
All tracks are written by Kathleen Edwards
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Glenfern" | 4:30 |
| 2. | "Hard on Everyone" | 5:33 |
| 3. | "Birds on a Feeder" | 3:14 |
| 4. | "Simple Math" | 4:15 |
| 5. | "Options Open" | 3:48 |
| 6. | "Feelings Fade" | 3:21 |
| 7. | "Fools Ride" | 3:30 |
| 8. | "Ashes to Ashes" | 4:05 |
| 9. | "Who Rescued Who" | 2:23 |
| 10. | "Take It with You When You Go" | 3:57 |
| Total length: | 38:36 | |
| Chart (2020) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Albums (Billboard) [14] | 24 |
| US Billboard 200 [15] | 183 |
Kathleen Margaret Edwards is a Canadian singer-songwriter and musician. Her 2002 debut album, Failer, contained the singles "Six O'Clock News" and "Hockey Skates". Her next two albums – Back to Me and Asking for Flowers – both made the Billboard 200 list and reached the top 10 of Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart. In 2012, Edwards' fourth studio album, Voyageur, became Edwards' first album to crack the top 100 and top 40 in the U.S., peaking at #39 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and #2 in Canada. In 2012, Edwards' song "A Soft Place To Land" won the SOCAN Songwriting Prize, an annual competition that honours the best song written and released by 'emerging' songwriters over the past year, as voted by the public. Her musical sound has been compared to Suzanne Vega meets Neil Young.
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