Shana Cleveland described her third solo record, Manzanita, as “a supernatural love album set in the California wilderness,” a succinct description that sets both scene and mystifying tonality. The natural essence of the woods, mountains, rolling hills, and open skies, are apparent not from setting but from sound. Manzanita takes a spiritual journey free from the city, free from commotion, free from congestion. Cleveland, best known as the lead songwriter for the perpetually great La Luz, gives her surroundings a pivotal part to play, but the song’s are more than their scenery, Manzanita is personal, an album created with overwhelming love, written from the perspective of an expecting mother and elated partner. Throughout the record we’re brought along as Shana Cleveland steps outside herself to witness growing love and undying support, and spoiler alert, the music is utterly beautiful.
Cleveland’s prior solo effort, Night of the Worm Moon, was majestic and spiritual, like a vision trip to the desert as the sun sets over the boundless landscape, filled with scenic beauty and gorgeous arrangements. With Manzanita, we’ve left the desert for the front porch, a survey of the land as it lies, whispering into the twinkling night sky with lullabies and hushed twang. Released via Hardly Art (Lala Lala, La Luz, My Idea), the psychedelic nuances are still there, with proceedings adrift in ghosts, bonfires, and the gentle hum of organs and acoustic guitars, but the haze is cut with a serene nod to warm folk compositions and Americana. Cleveland’s lullaby-adjacent songwriting continuously reaches new heights, grappling with love at its most profound on early single “Faces In The Firelight,” a song she wrote while pregnant about the commitment between her and partner (and bandmate) Will Sprott. The sound of the composition matches the sentiment, awash in lush strings, delicate finger picked acoustics, and a tender rhythmic pulse.
It’s easy to let go of the world and fall into Manzanita, allowing yourself the time to zone out, to embrace the sentiment that Shana Cleveland has developed with stunning clarity. Her voice is as gorgeous as they come, delicate but arresting, we hang on each word and harmony, floating in a way that fits to perfection with the arpeggiated guitars, warbling pedal steel, glowing mellotron, and the soft thump of front-porch percussion. Everything finds its own space, coming together with a celestial grace, a natural patience, and an astounding resolve. Within the wooded atmosphere and vast reaches of the trees, Cleveland doesn’t just soothe, but takes us into another realm, channeling her thoughts into spectral experiences on tracks like “A Ghost” and the embrace of country solitude found in “Mystic Mine.” Manzanita is a complete vision of love wrapped in the wisp of the wind and the warmth of the glistening sun.