10/10
Brandee Younger, harp.
Impulse!, 2025.
Brandee Younger’s highly anticipated third album Gadabout Season is most likely her most erudite and personal music to date. It all started when Younger and her long-time collaborators—bassist-producer Rashaan Carter and drummer Allan Mednard—were on tour. They learned about the term “gadabout” from a word-of-the-day email. Defined as “a habitual pleasure seeker,” gadabout grew from a fun fact to a term that defined the entire tour.
And from there, an album was born—apparently right smack dab in the midst of challenges in Younger’s personal life, when the pursuit of happiness felt far off. “The album reflects the journey,” she tells us. “The search for meaning and beauty amid life’s most complex moments, ultimately emerging with a deeper sense of self.”
Each track refers to that journey, from hardship to joy no matter the circumstances, and the incredible power in that choice. Even in the act of creation, the trio took this perspective into account, making the recording process less about being a session and more a sense of discovery over many, many months. It gives the album an exposed and honest quality, the way you feel when hearing music performed live.
That’s evident as the curtain rises on the dreamlike Reckoning as well asthe utter beauty of New Pinnacle with its lyrical richness above a tender groove. Reflections ushers in a feeling of the ancient and the safety of a sacred temple, while the simple melody of Surrender offers peace and comfort. Featuring pianist-composer and MacArthur Fellow Courtney Bryan, Younger points out this music summons up that moment of “going to the altar and giving all.”
BBL mimics a thumb piano, full of lightness but burning underneath with energy and tension. It’s all sonic brilliance as well as a gloriously melded ensemble. The title track pulses as a staccato heartbeat, where the joy of creation feels palpable and bubbles forth in bursts of “ahas!” In Unswept Corners, Mednard literally sweeps away the cobwebs as over-dubbed vocals offer a buoyancy to Younger’s classy improvs.
Bringing to a close this spectacularly radiant album with Discernment, Younger seems to pose a question. How we will choose to step forward—as someone defeated or someone full of hope? Younger makes it clear what her empowering choice will be.
