This February sees the return of Oakland-based songwriter Desiree Cannon with Radio Heat, the follow-up to her 2018 debut Beach Sleeper, on The Long Road Society and Gar Hole Records. Like the previous record, the new album presents a diverse collection of songs linked with a strong thematic thread. Namely the titular concept of radio heat—”a collective electrical energy that is perpetually transferring human emotions through space and time,” as the label explains, “and our ability to transform that energy through acts of beauty, intention, and art.”
Radio Heat has this idea baked into its very bones, Desiree Cannon holding the creation of songs as a kind of alchemical process. With a country-inflected style that reaches towards everything from dark pop and surf influences, Cannon brings an assortment of pain and doubt to the table in an attempt to transform it into something different. As though a song is a kind of machine able to transmute suffering into beauty, not only for the artist but the audience too.
Lead single and album opener, the title track is a door through which the listener is invited to witness this process in action. “I wished for a brighter start for you / Picturing day’s first light / Like a tide running over your door,” as Cannon sings with something like weary fondness. “Hot water on cold veins / When a soft beat drops like a screen / I know, and I know you’ve got it too.”
I can feel radio heat on
While you walk to my back I retreat
Now everytime before like
A box of matches in the sink on fire