In the four years since his last album—Maybe We Never Die (2021)—Anderson East has been busy doing what he does best: writing soulful songs that cut deep through the emotional layers of life and delivering them in his close-to-the-heart vocals. On his new album, Worthy, produced by Dave Cobb, with whom he’s been working since 2015’s Delilah, he’s written ten exquisite, intimate songs whose reverberating melodies uncover vulnerability, hurt, and healing.
Loping guitar strums open “I’ll Do Anything,” laying the foundation for Anderson’s tender vocals in the verses and providing the thematic structure of the song as it spirals into the swelling horns, ethereal background vocals, and Anderson’s pleading soul screech in the chorus. On the shimmering pop anthem “Say I Love You” cascading piano chords float beneath Anderson’s breathy vocals as the song climbs higher and higher into a Beatles-esque orchestral riff, complete with the oompahs of a horn section.
