Keep Your Courage


Keep Your Courage is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant, released on April 14, 2023, by Nonesuch Records. It is her first full-length studio album since 2014's Natalie Merchant and Merchant also promoted the release with a tour, accompanied on some dates by a symphony orchestra. The album has received positive reviews, but faced criticism for its tone and length.

Composition and recording

After several years of focusing on being a single mother, Merchant returned to songwriting as an emotional outlet, composing songs for Keep Your Courage beginning in late 2020 or early 2021. These represented the first songs that Merchant had written in six years. The album is a song cycle built around the concept of having a courageous heart, and is a concept album composed entirely of love songs, which Merchant was inspired to write after having surgery for ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament as well as an anaplasmosis infection that led to sepsis and experiencing healing from love and care by others. Lyrics discuss feelings of isolation that she had during the COVID-19 pandemic and the album also explores political themes and feminism and womanhood. Many of the songs are written about or to fictional or mythological characters, which is a songwriting tool that Merchant uses to approach contemporary issues. She also read mythology during the pandemic, as it felt like a mythological event to her.
In-studio recordings only featured up to five persons at a time due to COVID restrictions, so the resulting music was made with layering recordings. The cover is a photograph of a statue of Joan of Arc that Merchant had found many years prior and kept.

Release and promotion

Two singles preceded the album's release: "Come On, Aphrodite" on February 15, 2023, and "Tower of Babel" on March 30, 2023. Merchant participated in a promotion with Uncut to answer fans' questions that ran in the June 2023 issue. She also hosted a set on WDST, Radio Woodstock on April 15. On April 18, 2023, Merchant released a third single off of the album, "Big Girls".
Merchant withheld the release for almost a year in order to safely tour around the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning in May 2022, Merchant took the music from this album and prepared it for an orchestral arrangement. The promotional tour was her first long-term tour in almost a decade and found Merchant accompanied by a string quartet on all dates. Merchant also performed on Good Morning America on June 20.
In the table below, entries with an asterism feature an orchestra.
DateCityCountryVenueAccompaniment
Poughkeepsie, New YorkUnited States of AmericaBardavon 1869 Opera House
Poughkeepsie, New YorkUnited States of AmericaBardavon 1869 Opera House
Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaUnited States of AmericaByham Theater
Charlottesville, VirginiaUnited States of AmericaParamount Theater
Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaUnited States of AmericaKimmel Cultural Campus
Hershey, PennsylvaniaUnited States of AmericaHershey Theatre
Greenville, South CarolinaUnited States of AmericaPeace Center Concert Hall
Clearwater, FloridaUnited States of AmericaRuth Eckerd Hall
⁂Fort Lauderdale, FloridaUnited States of AmericaAu-Rene Theater at Broward Center for the Performing ArtsSouth Florida Symphony Orchestra
St. Augustine, FloridaUnited States of AmericaSt. Augustine Amphitheatre
⁂Atlanta, GeorgiaUnited States of AmericaAtlanta Symphony HallAtlanta Symphony Orchestra
Portland, MaineUnited States of AmericaMerrill Auditorium
Boston, MassachusettsUnited States of AmericaEmerson Colonial Theatre
Boston, MassachusettsUnited States of AmericaEmerson Colonial Theatre
Cleveland, OhioUnited States of AmericaKeyBank State Theatre
Cincinnati, OhioUnited States of AmericaTaft Theatre
Carmel, IndianaUnited States of AmericaThe Palladium [at the Center for the Performing Arts]
Ann Arbor, MichiganUnited States of AmericaMichigan Theater
Chicago, IllinoisUnited States of AmericaThe Chicago Theatre
Milwaukee, WisconsinUnited States of AmericaPabst Theater
⁂New York City, New YorkUnited States of AmericaAlice Tully Hall, Lincoln CenterThe Knights
⁂New York City, New YorkUnited States of AmericaAlice Tully Hall, Lincoln CenterThe Knights
⁂St. Louis, MissouriUnited States of AmericaStifel TheatreSt. Louis Symphony Orchestra
⁂Newark, New JerseyUnited States of AmericaNJPACOrchestra of St. Luke's
⁂Providence, Rhode IslandUnited States of AmericaVeterans Memorial AuditoriumRhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra
⁂Washington, D. C.United States of AmericaJohn F. Kennedy Center for the Performing ArtsNational Symphony Orchestra
⁂Washington, D. C.United States of AmericaJohn F. Kennedy Center for the Performing ArtsNational Symphony Orchestra
⁂Chautauqua, New YorkUnited States of AmericaChautauqua Institution AmphitheaterChautauqua Symphony Orchestra
Spokane, WashingtonUnited States of AmericaMartin Woldson Theater at The Fox
Woodinville, WashingtonUnited States of AmericaChateau Ste. Michelle Winery
Portland, OregonUnited States of AmericaKeller Auditorium
San Francisco, CaliforniaUnited States of AmericaThe Masonic
Saratoga, CaliforniaUnited States of AmericaThe Mountain Winery
San Diego, CaliforniaUnited States of AmericaHumphrey's Concerts by the Bay
Los Angeles, CaliforniaUnited States of AmericaWalt Disney Concert Hall
BerlinGermanyTheater des Westens
London, EnglandUnited KingdomLondon Palladium
London, EnglandUnited KingdomLondon Palladium
Glasgow, ScotlandUnited KingdomGlasgow Royal Concert Hall
Manchester, EnglandUnited KingdomO2 Apollo Manchester
DublinIreland3Olympia
Bath, EnglandUnited KingdomThe Forum
AmsterdamThe NetherlandsCarré Theatre
BrusselsBelgiumCirque Royal

Reception

Keep Your Courage received positive reviews from critics noted at review aggregator Metacritic. It has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100, based on seven reviews. In No Depression, Jim Shahen characterizes this release as "full of ambitious musical passages, thoughtful lyrics, and fantastic vocal performances centered on the need for love and meaningful human connection". PopMatters' Steve Horowitz rated Keep Your Courage a seven out of 10, noting an "alchemy" between the musicians and styles, but critiquing that Merchant "would be better if Merchant lightened up a bit... She would be more honest if she were funnier, and this would make her morals easier to digest." Tom Dunne of The Irish Examiner listed this as one of his six favorite albums of the year so far in mid-April 2023. John Murphy of musicOMH gave the album three out of five stars, praising individual tracks, but noting that "there are a couple of tracks that veer towards the forgettable, and the overall downbeat tempo of the album as a whole may test the patience of some listeners". In The Daily Telegraph, Neil McCormick rated this album four out of five stars, praising "the cohesive, eternal quality of Merchant's ability to weave romantic, folk-rock ballads rich with organ, brass, and tidal waves of strings all anchored to simple piano melodies". Editors at AllMusic Guide scored this release four out of five stars, with critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine praising the music for "celebrat compassion, empathy, and inspiration" while being "stately and sober", with "Merchant's inherently warm, empathetic voice keep the album from seeming still in its quiet moments". Graham Reid of The New Zealand Herald included this in his favorite albums of 2023. Editors at AllMusic included this among their favorite singer-songwriter music albums of 2023.

Track listing

All songs written by Natalie Merchant, except where noted
  1. "Big Girls" – 4:56
  2. "Come On, Aphrodite" – 5:21
  3. "Sister Tilly" – 7:42
  4. "Narcissus" – 6:02
  5. "Hunting the Wren" – 5:47
  6. "Guardian Angel" – 5:56
  7. "Eye of the Storm" – 5:30
  8. "Tower of Babel" – 2:28
  9. "Song of Himself" – 4:51
  10. "The Feast of Saint Valentine" – 6:06
Vinyl edition bonus tracks
  2. "Spring & Fall: To a Young Child" – 3:03
  3. "Butterfly" – 5:39
  4. "Giving Up Everything" – 4:20
  5. "Frozen Charlotte" – 5:58

    Personnel

Keep Your Courage debuted on the mid-week UK Albums Chart at 14, but ended up placing 58 when the chart was published.
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