Tift Merritt – Sugar (2026) (FLAC) [24-Bit/96 kHz]

For some, success means making money or luxuriating in celebrityhood. For Americana singer/songwriter Tift Merritt, peace away from the struggle has been its own reward.

On Sugar, her first album of all new material recorded with a band in nearly a decade, the title track is the story of Merritt's fraught love/hate relationship with playing live and seeking wider stardom, "The spotlight is a racket, it isn't what it seems/ People painting pictures they don't even mean." Creating a sticky, memorable single has eluded Merritt but she's finally solved that with "Everyday Singing," which has the kind of irresistible melody and sweeping arrangement that could finally break her to a wider audience. Backed by strings and the female voices of the Everyday Singing Choir, the uplifting words and enchanting melody speak of the emotion that Merritt has said she wants to put more of into the world, "It goes, may love write the story between us, may love fill the space that remains/ May love enter here on my singing, may love leave no blank page."

As she has on past albums like Tambourine (2004), Merritt successfully adds horns and a gently driving soulful groove to "Look What Love Just Did." She pours the disheartening experiencing of moving back to her home state of North Carolina after a decade in New York City into a biting breakup ballad, "Generous," where her singing has echoes of Emmylou Harris's voice at its saddest: "Make it all my fault, say it til it's true/ Say it til you know I'm not worth talking to/ So that you can go and get her, somebody a whole lot better/ Who would never ever say, 'Come on and get your shit together.'" Produced by Lawrence Rothman (Amanda Shires, Margo Price) and with a wide soundstage and crisp separation between instruments, Merritt's vocals on Sugar are among the most affecting and heartfelt of her career.

Tracklist
1. Finest Feelings
2. Everyday Singing
3. Look What Love Just Did
4. Last Ditch Ultimatum
5. Sugar
6. Generous
7. Someone To Watch The Band With Me
8. Mad Mad World
9. Locks
10. Library Of Dust
11. Fate of Man Is Sarah's Eyes
12. Philosopher's Song

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