Between her local 1995 debut Probably Lucy and its follow-up three years later, Something Happened, Seela Misra evolved from a standard ATX singer-songwriter to a sultry indie rock diva. Nearly 20 years later, on her fifth album Track You Down, the singer revisits that initial vulnerability with a collection venturing through gospel rollicks, folk-laden rolls, jangling pop, and acoustic ruminations. She still transitions from breezy timbres and slightly rasped altos to bare-boned coos, but now her vocal conviction untangles the Canadian import’s sinewy melancholia. Biblical trifecta “Love, Burn Me Down,” “Ready to Sing,” and “Brave” unfold parables wherein the narrator is burned and baptized by love: born as a mustard seed in her “father’s house,” bowed at a congregation pew, and praying with clasped hands, respectively. Seela bears her revelations in crystalline detail, proving strength in the transformative power of faith.
This article appears in April 28 • 2017.