26. March 2025
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Media Review

Anna Vaus – Downhill From Here

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Anna Vaus - Downhill From Here

Anna Vaus - Downhill From Here
4.7

Rating

 4.7/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Lovely range of songs
  • Very harmonic atmosphere
  • Good stories

I featured Anna Vaus already in my Country Music Picks and my Country Music Playlists already. The more, I was flattered running into her debut album, which the US-American artist released on 21st March 2025. Here is my review of Downhill From Here.

Anna Vaus – About The Artist

Anna Vaus is a country music artist, who is originally from Southern California. She was born on 14th September 1996 and grew up in Poway, North of San Diego. Her website states that she has been inspired by artists like Joni Mitchell and decided to move to Nashville to study at Belmont University. In her junior year already, she became the first recipient of the Miranda Lambert Women Creators Fund. She released two EPs in 2018 and 2021, The California Kid and Wild Honey.

There is an acoustic version of the latter one as well. In 2022, she had a seven track release, Younger Version of Myself, which is typically either referred to as mini-album or EP.  The title track of her 2021 EP, Wild Honey, has been her most successful track so far. It comes with some four million Spotify streams.

 

Anna Vaus – Downhill From Here – Track by Track

The eight song album lasts 27 minutes.

1. Downhill

The title track (it also contains the phrase Downhill From Here in the chorus) opens Anna Vaus’ debut album. The song is a fine, beautiful country pop melody with a nice touch. The lyrics feel very gentle and harmonic as well. I really love this opening.

2. Easy Lover

Easy Lover has been the most recent single before Downhill From Here before Anna Vaus shared her debut album. It has been released on Valentine’s Day 2025. Accordingly. this one is an emotional love track, which comes with a pop-ish beat.

Say you’ll call me up on my way home
Wanna hear your voice through my cell phone
I think I might need ya
It’s so hard to leave ya
I’d go 106 on the fire
Just to see the blue in your eyes
I think I might need ya
It’s so hard to leave ya

3. Dust

The January release Dust made it into my Country Music Playlists in January 2025. The song is a bit slower and has a less present rhythm than Easy Lover. But Anna Vaus is again lovely in creating a warm, harmonic atmosphere without being too cheesy. Despite being released in winter, I feel it is also a nice choice for your spring playlist.

4. Smoke With A Cowboy

After these two previously released songs, Downhill from Here features two new tracks. Smoke With A Cowboy is a very smart write. With nice percussion work, it combines country music with Latin vibes. This leads to a really catching groove. I really like this unexpected touch.

5. Canyon Child

Canyon Child comes with a very different setting again. The song is recorded in an acoustic style. There are elements like singing birds in the background, so that the song feels very poetic. While the song is majorly by Anna’s voice and her guitar, there is a nice wider range of instruments in the chorus, including strings. A very heartwarming listen, which reminds me of the songs of Sarah Darling.

Canyon child, free and wild
Haven’t seen the flowers in your hair in a while
Misty morning in California
I’ll be right here waiting for ya

6. Trace of You

Trace of You appeared in my November 2024 Country Music Picks and has thus been the first time I featured this artist. The fine and gentle way, how Anna Vaus is telling her song, still fascinates me. The song initially reminds of Canyon Child, but then takes a more energetic route. I thus also like the plot of the track.

7. Scenic Route

I used to believe there was such thing as a wrong turn
‘Cause I’d taken so many
So many my whole life
But one day I was walking, talking to the sky when I took a wrong turn
I came upon a field of flowers
And that’s when I realized

Scenic Route is a very personal, intimate write, which comes with a fine arrangement. I simply enjoy listening to this song, following the story and plot it is telling. Beautiful.

8. Happy Trails

Anna Vaus closes Downhill from Here with Happy Trails. The song starts rather slowly, but then becomes one of the more rhythmic and powerful tracks of the album. A nice farewell from her debut album.

 

Anna Vaus – Downhill From Here – Spotify

Here is the album on Spotify:

 

Anna Vaus – Downhill From Here – Track by Track

I really loved listening to these eight songs by Anna Vaus. I already loved the singles I recently featured, but I feel that Downhill from Here is just a lovely, versatile showcase of her music. She is not that much on the mainstream path, but that turns this release a very special one as well.

Favorite Song: Scenic Route

 

Media Review – All Debut Releases 2025

Here are all my media reviews of debut EPs & albums published in 2025:

 

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