Tasmin Archer’s debut smash, Great Expectations, reinforced two evergreen, connected truths about songs and albums. Most good songs’ final forms aren’t as vital to enjoyment as they seem and an artist’s best-known works are freeze-frame screen captures highlighting their broader picture of influences and interests. Comparisons to Tracy Chapman and Seal weren’t wrong but they were incomplete. You could find the intimate singer-songwriter storytelling of the former, the expansiveness of the latter, and the earnestness of both throughout the album but you could also find distinct pockets of other ‘70s and ‘80s influences that shouldn't be obvious fits on the same album.

The fundamental approach of an artist becomes clearer over time and until now we haven’t received too much of Tasmin Archer’s broader picture to solve that puzzle.  Bloom expanded significantly on Great Expectations but was relatively close in time. ON established the perimeter of the puzzle, each song an eclectic entity unto itself. A Cauldron of Random Notes completes the puzzle somewhat and shows us that Tasmin Archer has always been who she’d hinted she was.

Opener “Vibration of Life” starts with dubby gospel vibes that wouldn’t be out of place on a Jah Wobble album.  It develops with surprising chord changes and a moody outro that tell us that Tasmin and her partner John Hughes have always valued a broad sonic palette. The human commonalities discussed in the lyrics were much more in fashion pre-pandemic but to state them now tells us what we suspected in the ‘90s but couldn’t know: this is, and has been, Tasmin’s outlook. That she was over-joined in that sentiment 30 years ago, and under-joined now, tints how we view her; but she’s always been her.

As the album proceeds, with the tension of “Silent Witness,” the laid-back groove of “Hysteria,” the tinges of twang and orchestration in “Free Fall,” the proggy ending of “Boy,” and the keys-driven comparative sparseness of “Milan Girl” serving as mile markers, all conclusions from the opener are reinforced.  There are loads of arrangement fruits brought in from many musical trees, and you can’t predict which ones will come next.

This was true on Great Expectations, but it wasn’t clear why it was true.  Was it to hit different demographics, was it just to establish that she could, was it because she doesn’t know what she wants to sound like, or something else?  It turns out she’s a musical omnivore, so she’s been doing what omnivores do.

She’s always wanted to deliver a full-bodied experience, taking varied elements and focusing on album pacing. Putting shorter songs in the middle before building up to the final three songs makes this set of songs flow beautifully. 

A Cauldron of Random Notes is not only a rewarding album on its own terms, it increases the rewards of her entire catalogue by showing us the picture she’s been assembling this whole time. In her 60s, Tasmin Archer has further illuminated what she was up to in her 20s.