Throughout the course of last year, I managed to write quite a bit about Anna Morsett, the Olympia, WA-born, Denver-based singer/songwriter, musician and creative mastermind behind the indie rock act The Still Tide. Her work with The Still Tide has largely been inspired by experiences growing up in the Pacific Northwest, living in Brooklyn in her 20s and traveling the world as a guitar tech for the likes of critically applauded acts like Kaki King, The Tallest Man on Earth and The Devil Makes Three among others. As a solo artist, she has landed opening spots for Cat Power, Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats and Margaret Glaspy.
Now, as you may recall Morsett’s soon-to-be released The Still Tide EP Between Skies s slated for release on Friday and the EP’s material is inspired by the duality she regularly experiences and feels as a magnetic frontwoman and a self-described introspective loner while also touching upon love, loss, opportunities won and lost and the closed doors of our lives.
So far, I’ve written about three of the EP’s singles, the introspective , The Smiths and The Pretenders-like “Change of Address” the shimmering and yearning “On The Line” and “Keep It.” Morsett begins the new year with the release of Between Skies’ fourth and latest single, the slow-burning “Better Than I’ve Been.” And while the new single continues a run of introspective and unapologetically honest material, centered around the Olympia-born, Denver-based singer/songwriter and guitarist’s plaintive and tender vocals and shimmering guitars, it may arguably be the most yearning and vulnerable single off the EP to date: the song’s narrator expresses the hope for a deeper, more impactful love in her life. Interestingly, throughout there’s a tacit acknowledgment that meaningful relationships and meaningful love are difficult, require work — for both people — and are incredibly rare.
“This song is about the hope for a deeper, more impactful love/relationship,” explains Morsett. “I wanted to fall in love in the way I dreamed and hoped love could be – something life altering and new in a way I’d not yet known – and that would require me to learn to love better than I’ve been loved.”