Allison Russell began The Returner with rhythm. During a December week at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles, she, JT Nero and Drew Lindsay built the songs that became her 2023 album. Outside Child had already told the story of her survival. This record makes a practical decision about what comes afterwards: get a band together, start with the beat.
The band she calls the Rainbow Coalition gives that ambition company. SistaStrings’ Chauntee and Monique Ross, Ganessa James and Joy Clark are among the players; Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman also contribute. Russell brings banjo and clarinet into arrangements that make space for funk and gospel. There is pleasure here, and Russell has been explicit about its politics: sensuality and freedom belong to survivors too.
Demons and the closing Requiem keep that pleasure from becoming a tidy recovery story. In Holler, Jof Owen heard soul, funk and choral arrangements supporting songs about Black liberation and survival. The range serves Russell’s stated ambition. She can address what happened to her while making music intended for dancing.
The Rainbow Coalition matters because the collaboration begins with the writing. These musicians help decide how the songs move, rather than arrive afterwards to decorate a finished account of suffering. Russell has been explicit about claiming sensuality and freedom for survivors. Starting the sessions with rhythm gives that claim a form the whole band can participate in.