Jagged Little Pill took Alanis Morissette from the middle of the road dance-pop and ballads of her first two albums and made her one of the 1990s defining female voices. It was a sardonic, yet melody-driven behemoth of a record that has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and paved the way for a whole new generation of women in music.

It’s easy to forget she was just twenty-one years old when that record came out. Her songwriting has always exhibited maturity and wisdom beyond her years. But with her new release, her ninth studio album Such Pretty Forks In The Road, the question is: what has middle-aged Morissette got to offer?

It is, after all, a record that has been a long time in the making – in fact this is Morissette’s first new LP since 2012’s Havoc And Bright Lights. True, she has been busy pursuing other creative avenues, appearing in a string of TV shows and films, and adapting Jagged Little Pill for the stage. She’s also settled down with her partner, the American rapper Souleye, and the couple have three children together.

I mention that because Such Pretty Forks In The Road is a deeply personal record. It feels like Morissette has laid herself bare here. She tackles an array of dark themes, from mental health to addiction to her own recently acknowledged battles with postnatal depression that she addressed in a heartfelt post on her official website last year.

Ablaze is the track that deals most directly with that particular struggle, with Morissette’s telltale lyrical eye on show as she sings: “Second thing you'll notice is that often we think that there's not enough / It might feel dark, it might feel lonely and you'll wonder why you're here / You'll be overcome with darkness and a sense of hopelessness / But it won't matter if you keep the core connected to the oneness”.

Reasons I Drink deals with addiction, and is quite possibly the album’s standout track, with a twitchy piano melody that builds to a truly epic chorus that is the equal of anything on Jagged Little Pill. Her, meanwhile, is its antithesis, a beautiful, soulful track illuminated by a tender, softly stroked piano, while closing track Pedestal cranks up the drama with a sweeping orchestral feel as she seemingly examines her fears about her own marriage.

Her voice is as good as ever, it’s distinctive timbre propelling things along superbly through a wide range of emotions. In many ways, Such Pretty Forks In The Road feels like a logical progression from records like Jagged Little Pill – this is a more mature singer addressing the things that life can throw at you. But in that sense, it’s also a classic Morissette album.

Such Pretty Forks In The Road track list:

1. Smiling

2. Ablaze

3. Reasons I Drink

4. Diagnosis

5. Missing The Miracle

6. Losing The Plot

7. Reckoning

8. Sandbox Love

9. Her

10. Nemesis

11. Pedestal

 alt-rock     singer-songwriter 

Author: Joe Sharratt

Joe Sharratt is a writer and journalist based in the UK covering music, literature, sport, and travel.