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"Wrangled" is the second full length studio album by Angaleena Presley, released April 21, 2017 on the Thirty Tigers label.
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 83 out of 100, which indicates "universal acclaim" based on eight reviews.
User Album Review
In a way, Presley’s work neatly splits the difference between Lambert’s wild-eyed defiance and Monroe’s melodic melancholy, and she’s an older soul than either of ‘em. Throwback touches are threaded throughout Wrangled, from the reverberant guitar solo on “Dreams Don’t Come True” (written with the other Annies) to the classic honky-tonk feel of “Only Blood” to the jazzy upright bass line that grounds “Good Girl Down,” a collaboration with rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson. Even the cover art features retro fonts and fake vinyl record ring wear.
Wrangled isn’t stuck in the past, however. Presley’s vivid tales of love, loss and the everyday life of average folks are as relevant today as they were five decades ago and as they will be five decades from now (assuming we make it that long). Sonically, she takes some risks, setting “Mama I Tried” against a chilly beat and leaving studio background noise here and there in the final mix. These are small things, but in the context of Nashville’s highly airbrushed country-music machine, they make a big difference. Presley feels like a hyper-real presence in a very fake world.
Song after song features sharp lyrics, sublime melodies, strong performances and suitable production, with Presley cool, calm and collected at the center of it all. She may never be the most famous Pistol Annie, but on her second album, Angaleena Presley proves she belongs right alongside her colleagues as an artist.
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