Caitlin Rose became a favorite in the Americana community with the release of 2010's Own Side Now, a set of songs that was beguiling in its straightforward melodicism and personal, down-to-earth lyrics. The critical success of the album earned her a deal with ATO Records, and 2013's The Stand-In was a significantly more polished and ambitious work, with a stronger pop influence and a splashier production; however, while it was deservedly well-received, it didn't gain quite the same critical buzz as the debut. A combination of personal and professional matters kept Rose from releasing a third album until nine years after The Stand-In, and 2022's Cazimi sounds like an effort to find a graceful midpoint compromise between the approaches of the previous LPs. Cazimi sounds bigger and rocks harder than Own Side Now (when it chooses to rock), but the arrangements are more straightforward than those on The Stand-In, with a strong but compact studio band doing the work without an excess of frills. The production (by Jordan Lehning with Rose) boasts just enough gloss to make the best of the tunes without getting sticky or calling attention to itself. The album puts its focus squarely on Rose and her songs, and if some fans wondered what became of her in the years after The Stand-In, the good news is she lost none of her talent or spark in her downtime. The lyrics are populated by characters struggling to make good choices -- mostly in terms of relationships -- and not getting swept up in the consequences when they don't, from the hope and attraction of opening number "Carried Away" to the older-but-wiser wariness of the next track, "Modern Dancing." (She's also wise enough to know there's little to be gained by making anyone the bad guy in "Blameless.") There's a gentle sweetness in Rose's voice, but it never communicates as weakness or naïveté, and her singing reinforces the hard-won emotional honesty of these songs. Cazimi doesn't sound or feel as if Caitlin Rose was trying to give fans a grand-scale comeback effort after taking most of a decade off. Instead, it plays to her strengths with an ideal balance of solid craft and relatable humanity, and it's a more than welcome return from a singer and songwriter whose every release feels like a gift. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

1		Carried Away
2		Modern Dancing
3		Getting It Right
4		Nobody's Sweetheart
5		Lil' Vesta
6		Black Obsidian
7		How Far Away
8		Blameless
9		Gemini Moon
10		Holdin'
11		All Right (Baby's Got a Way)
12		Only Lies

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