By Ian Bremner

Her 4th record, Soul Sick, feels like the real Sallie Ford. Her personal battles with anxiety and depression are well documented, and while music provides some outlet for her, sometimes you as the listener could sense some insecurities within the music.

Sallie Ford’s debut, Dirty Radio was a fantastic 50’s doo-wop record that was vintage sounding but still pretty fresh. Her second record, Untamed Beast was a straight forward rock n roll album that was hard-nosed and gritty. At this point, her band, the Sound Outside, broke up and she appeared to be in musical limbo. Ford went “solo,” with Slap Back, which was a decent record, but it wasn’t really similar or different enough to her other material to truly stand out.

Soul Sick is introspective, confessional and accepting of personal issues. It sounds like an artist coming out of the proverbial shell. Sallie Ford has a very loyal and steady fan base in her adopted hometown of Portland, and folks will follow her journey regardless. It finally feels like Ford is accepting that fact and making music that although may be difficult to put together, sounds therapeutic and dare say, “fun.”

Listen to Soul Sick