Michelle Branch - West Coast Time (2011)

Following the truncated release of the 'Everything Comes And Goes' album as a six-track EP in 2010, Michelle Branch commenced work on her follow-up album to 2003's 'Hotel Paper'. It was to be a return to her pop/rock roots, and by April 2011 the album was complete, with only the mixing and mastering remaining. In May she previewed her new single 'Loud Music' on a live webchat, which was released to the iTunes store on 14 June 2011, with the song being co-written and produced by British writers Jim Irvin and Julian Emery, who collaborated with Branch on several songs on the album. In the webcast, she also mentioned songs on the record called 'Mastermind' and 'The Story Of Us', and added that 'Through The Radio' would be a hidden track on the CD. In a previous webcast, she premiered a song from the album called 'Spark', and so it all seemed to be coming along nicely and was being readied for release. Other new songs were either premiered or announced during the rest of 2011, until 'If You Happen To Call' was made available for free download on her official website in December. By April 2012, it had been a year since Branch had announced that her album was complete, but 'West Coast Time' continued to be delayed for, as yet, unknown reasons, with release dates of September 2012 stretching to December, and then finally to Spring 2013, but to date the album has never made an appearance. For much of 2013, Branch wrote new songs, and moved on from the unreleased 'West Coast Time', re-locating to London to start recording with Martin Terefe, and then to Nashville to complete those recordings. With 'West Coast Time' consigned to the vaults, Branch's music career seemed to be put on hold, releasing just one more single with Rihwa in 2013, before making a comeback in 2017. As the cancellation of 'West Coast Time' could be seen as being responsible for this hiatus, let's give it a listen to see if we can work out why it was never released. Only one track has remained elusive, with just a live recording of 'The Story Of Us' being available, but as the quality is less than perfect, with much audience chatter throughout, I've left it off as it's still a perfectly acceptable 45-minute album without it. 

Track listing

01 Loud Music
02 Mastermind
03 Spark
04 If You Happen To Call
05 For Dear Life
06 Another Sun
07 Don't Feel Like Dancing
08 Here We Go Again
09 Jack And Jim
10 Smoke And Feathers
11 What Don't Kill You
12 Sunset Cigarette
13 Through The Radio