Allison Russell Pleads For Connection On New LP

Two years after the breakthrough success of The Returner, Allison Russell is back this summer with another deeply communal and expansive album. The singer/songwriter’s third studio LP, In The Hour of Chaos, will arrive July 10 via Fantasy Records. First single “Cold April” features Kara Jackson and Denitia, plus vocals from Russell’s daughter Ida’s Explore! Pop Choir.

“Things are rough. Things have been rough before,” Russell says of the song. “’Cold April’ is not laying out the grim facts of the moment. ‘Cold April’ asks if we can let the music itself restore and recharge us. The act of singing with my sisters, Kara Jackson and Denitia, is a balm for my soul, and a wind at my back to keep on.”

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That spirit of collective healing runs throughout In the Hour of Chaos, which Russell describes as “a fervent plea for connection in this time of alienation, isolation and dread. This is a record meant to make you feel GOOD and, in these times, feeling good is a radical act.”

Produced by Russell alongside Dim Star, the album doubles down on the collaborative ethos that has increasingly defined her work. Guests include Norah Jones, Joy Oladokun, Brittney Spencer, Ruby Amanfu and Devon Gilfillian. Their appearances are described less as conventional features and more like what Russell calls “a little capsule of humans being fully human and fully present.”

Russell’s rise over the last several years has been one of the more compelling arcs in contemporary roots music. After earning widespread acclaim for 2021’s Outside Child — an autobiographical work confronting childhood trauma — she expanded her palette considerably on The Returner, embracing soul, funk and ecstatic collective uplift. Along the way, she’s become a fixture across Americana and folk circles while collecting eight Grammy nominations (and one win).

Recently, Russell completed a second run as Persephone in the Broadway production of Hadestown, following a massive stretch opening arena dates for Hozier on his Unreal Unearth tour. Their duet “Wildflower” and Barley also marked Russell’s first appearance on the Billboard Hot 100.

Earlier this year, she paid tribute to Joni Mitchell alongside Sarah McLachlan at the Juno Awards, ahead of a summer tour with McLachlan kicking off July 1 in Franklin, Tn.

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