Infused with an adventurous variety musically, resonant lyrics that go deep into the meaningfulness and impact of community and spirituality and filled with the most emotive, expressive, ranging, affecting, from-the-heart singing of her career, this is in my opinion Dar Williams' best album to date and my 2025 album-of-the-year: a truly profound, inspired, connected and invigorating collection of tunes.
Dar's vocal delivery is so passionate, buoyant, radiant here. Throughout this album, there is a compelling, deeply affecting attentiveness given to her enunciation of her vocal delivery and to the artistic choices she is making vocally. The shifts and movement in vocal tonalities, chosen vocal registers, moods and vocal inflections create a glorious flow state of immersion attuned to the human spirit and spiritual wisdom. Her lyrics dance in poetry's gala and she sings them with an exploratory curiosity, a vivid openness.
A zen spiritual practice, a determination for change, an empathetic patience, a authentic, raw reality check and a bubbly optimism become housemates on this record and thrive in their communal togetherness, in their teamwork-oriented mindset.
In between listens to this record, I'm thinking deeply about this record and it is on my heart and is a part of my soul.
Her artistic choice to bounce around vocal registers in the first eight tracks and save her signature, airy, transcendent glide into her upper vocal register for track 9 creates an enveloping energy around "What Bird Did You See", as its distinct vocal atmosphere pulls us in and pulls at those heartstrings in such a memorable way. Closer "Olive Tree" has such a feel-good, hopeful, elevating synergy to it, coupled with its tribal-like percussion vibes.
Thirty+ years into music making, I wholeheartedly believe that "Hummingbird Highway" is Dar's magnum opus. A vocally enlivening, tonally flavourful, lyrically enlightening, musically enchanting, spiritually inspiring and uplifting, artistically brave, humanity affirming work of art. A downright moving, remarkable collection that I'm going to be listening to for life. Truly, truly special stuff.
Dar's vocal delivery is so passionate, buoyant, radiant here. Throughout this album, there is a compelling, deeply affecting attentiveness given to her enunciation of her vocal delivery and to the artistic choices she is making vocally. The shifts and movement in vocal tonalities, chosen vocal registers, moods and vocal inflections create a glorious flow state of immersion attuned to the human spirit and spiritual wisdom. Her lyrics dance in poetry's gala and she sings them with an exploratory curiosity, a vivid openness.
In between listens to this record, I'm thinking deeply about this record and it is on my heart and is a part of my soul.
Her artistic choice to bounce around vocal registers in the first eight tracks and save her signature, airy, transcendent glide into her upper vocal register for track 9 creates an enveloping energy around "What Bird Did You See", as its distinct vocal atmosphere pulls us in and pulls at those heartstrings in such a memorable way. Closer "Olive Tree" has such a feel-good, hopeful, elevating synergy to it, coupled with its tribal-like percussion vibes.
Thirty+ years into music making, I wholeheartedly believe that "Hummingbird Highway" is Dar's magnum opus. A vocally enlivening, tonally flavourful, lyrically enlightening, musically enchanting, spiritually inspiring and uplifting, artistically brave, humanity affirming work of art. A downright moving, remarkable collection that I'm going to be listening to for life. Truly, truly special stuff.