You'll Live

Whatever role John Moreland slips into, road-tested heartland rocker, folksinger or punk with an electric guitar, the songs lead the way. On You’ll Live, the material does the heavy lifting again, with each track finding its own shape and purpose.

There’s The Wreck of the Sultana, a shipwreck ballad with 10 verses of airtight wordplay, and The Nothing I Know, an existential meditation coloured by spacey atmospherics from producer Anthony da Costa. Teeny Says hits hard in 70 seconds, while Steppin’ Outside features vocals from former tourmate Tyler Childers.

Across You’ll Live, some songs wrestle with spirituality, while Kathleen and Ricochet search the ruins after life’s illusions fall away. Warm, funny and quietly searching, the album asks what remains when the veneer is gone, then follows the fragments wherever they lead.