The Staves are thrilled to reveal “You Held It All”, their first new music of the year, and their first since the release of 2021’s Good Woman LP.
You Held It All is also the band’s first release on Communion Records, and their first recording without the duo’s sister, Emily Staveley-Taylor, who wasn’t present for touring on the last run, stepping back from the road with the birth of her first baby (and has recently had a second child too).
You Held It All was produced by John Congleton in LA. Congleton, who helmed production for Good Woman too, assisted in a much more live and spontaneous feel to the studio process, which Jess and Millie were keen to investigate.
The Staves on their new single: “You Held It All is a song about understanding, and the knots we tie ourselves in when we don’t express our truth; and how much power and freedom there can be when we do.”
It’s been a period of enforced and significant change for The Staves over the past few years, with not only a line-up change, but enduring and welcoming changes to their lives for good and for bad. Such life experiences have unsurprisingly found their way into the lyrics too (now shared between the two sisters, rather than three), and it heralds a line drawn in the sand for whatever comes next for them. Since 2012, when The Staves first introduced themselves with those crystalline three-part harmonies and their lilting folk-informed songcraft, the ‘classic’ Staves sound has also undergone subtle but noteworthy change, and with You Held It All, the band enters a new chapter entirely.
What remains though, as fans and critics may attest to, is their ear for captivating melody and verse, both beautifully executed by those ever reliable, scintillating voices. You Held It All accompanies those ever-presents with a more driven, widescreen sound.
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