Album Review: Maren Morris, ‘Humble Quest’

Maren Morris’s career trajectory has been one of the more fascinating cases in the tumultuous past few years of the country-pop genre. The rollicking gospel and rock tinges of breakout hits “My Church,” “80s Mercedes,” and “Rich,” transformed into blockbuster EDM-lite pop anthems like “The Middle,” but Maren didn’t settle into the somewhat expected female country-pop archetype. She went political (“Dear Hate”), pulled out indie-pop-inflected radio smashes like “The Bones,” and rewrote country music history alongside three other illustrious female artists with The Highwomen. Maren has made it a point to move through the industry on her own terms and her progression continues to feel effortlessly natural on Humble Quest — her grief-streaked third studio album grounded by a deep reverence for life and love.

Back in January, Maren released “Circles Around This Town,” a poignant and nostalgic look at the cyclical nature of art-making and the past few years of her career. Complete with references to her biggest hits (“A couple hundred songs and the ones that finally worked / Was the one about a car and the one about a church”) and a subtly forlorn vocal performance, “Circles” is a sublime slice of country-pop reflection. With marquee names like Julia Michaels in the credits, the sound of “Circles” feels anthemic, but the underlying themes of meandering down memory lane by way of grief reigns the track back in. Near the end of 2019, Busbee, a giant in country music production and a close collaborator of Maren’s, passed. Throughout Humble Quest, his loss is felt musically and thematically. When the album reaches for saccharine country-pop moments (“Nervous”), Maren’s gritty Janis Joplin-esque vocal can’t carry the song by itself. Busbee’s understanding of how to best embellish Maren’s voice and lyrics is sorely missed. More importantly, however, the weight of his loss rests heavily on Maren’s vocal performance. The open-ended title track finds her wandering across weary chords, while the stunning album closer (“What Would This World Do?”) handles pointed transitions to teary-eyed falsetto with intense care and precision.

Humble Quest balances its gloom with moments that highlight the other ways in which Maren has developed a deeper appreciation for life. Since her last studio album, Maren gave birth to her first child and the resounding love from that experience radiates throughout the album. Love for her husband, her son, and her friend ground a sizable chunk of the album, but sometimes they make for middling moments. “I Can’t Love You Anymore” is too sweet for its own good with half-baked lines like “You’re the angel to my devil / The pot to my kettle”; “Detour” is at once forgettable and familiar which is a greater offense. When Maren goes for a more understated and pensive approach, she soars. “The Furthest Thing” contrasts a delicate instrumental against a slightly fraught vocal, and “Background Music” sounds as if it was tailor-made for a Netflix needle drop in the best way possible. Of course, there’s “Hummingbird,” a song that follows the storied tradition of artists including snippets of their children’s voices in songs dedicated to them. “Hummingbird” is fairly paint-by-the-numbers, but that moment in the bridge where Maren includes a sly commentary on parenting styles (“Oh, oh, I'll never try to cage you / Oh, oh, take the sky that God gave you”) is a glorious reminder of her sharp pen.

Finding peace in the unresolved is an inherently uncomfortable thing to achieve, yet Maren has crafted an album that successfully hinges its success upon that achievement.

Key Tracks: “Circles Around This Town” | “Hummingbird” | “What Would This World Do?” | “The Furthest Thing”

Score: 77