The Returner is the second studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, activist and multi-instrumentalist Allison Russell. Produced by Russell, Dan Knobler and Dim Star (JT Nero and Drew Lindsay), it was released by Fantasy Records on September 8, 2023, as the follow-up to Russell's award-winning debut Outside Child. It was preceded by three singles: the title track, "Stay Right Here", and "Snakelife". Russell described the album as "about being here now, and being consciously celebratory of the fact that we get to be here now, that every single one of us breathing and present on the planet has survived the pandemic, has survived all kinds of things, and we're here and we’re together and we can dance and we can have joy."
The album was promoted by a European tour supporting Hozier alongside various solo festival appearances, followed by an extensive US headlining tour beginning in October and continuing into early 2024 with dates in the UK, Ireland and Canada.
Background
When working on her second album, Russell sought to take a break from the "harrowing", personal topics explored on Outside Child, and instead focus on grooves and celebration, with Russell explaining "I thought about returning, and what that means to me. And I thought about survivors' joy, and how we don't talk about that enough." She noted that the album's title was inspired by Joni Mitchell, whom she had befriended through their shared association with Brandi Carlile, stating "I wrote a poem about Joni, and in the poem I called her 'Our Lady Returner.' I thought about how much grit and grace that she has as a human being to be able to come back from death, not once, but three times, and to relearn not just how to sing and play, but how to walk and talk. That was such a moving, intense experience that had many layers to me," adding that she feels the meaning of the title will change continuously for both herself and the listeners as they go through different experiences in their lives. Russell also noted that the lyrics of the album are less autobiographical than Outside Child, explaining "You can take deep dives on these songs if you want to, but you don't have to. You can just feel them, too. You know, these songs move. This is about being back in your own body and celebrating that. It's like a celebratory soundtrack for getting tired of hating yourself and deciding you're worthy. [...] I hope people feel some of the joy in this record."
Russell stated that the "the way that this record was born was so joyful and so intentional" in contrast to Outside Child where she struggled with feelings of denial, unworthiness and the fear of stepping forward and telling her own story, noting that "coming into this record, 'The Returner,' we've been for the last two years having people celebrating the music, and me finding my community and chosen family and a Rainbow Coalition circle growing bigger and bigger. It's been unprecedented in my life, all these magical secret garden doors opening." Russell explained that working with Lindsay on production helped to influence the more grooving tracks on the album, joking that "it was so much fun to kind of bust out of the roots ghetto that I sometimes get lost in. My default is often to go the murder ballad route or something. And having Drew imagine these grooving tracks for banjo-driven pieces that I had written was so exciting and freeing, and it took my imagination in different places."