Where It Hits You

Having departed his old record label and learned that his wife was leaving him for another man during the making of this album, Jim White imbues many of the songs here with a dark emotionalism. "The Way of Alone," "The Wintered Blue Sky," and the self-explanatory "Epilogue to a Marriage" are harrowing self-exorcisms. Members of Olabelle, Shak Nasti, and The Heap are among the guests who color in the arrangements, with White himself handling guitar, piano, "flutes & whistles," programming, and percussion. The music and writing are inspired and inspiring. The beauty of the horn-fired "Sunday's Refrain," the raw atmospherics of "My Brother's Keeper," and the celebratory jaunt of "Here We Go!" provide nuanced sonic detail, while the rustic, acoustic country-folk-blues of "State of Grace" captures a timeless charm and camaraderie among its loving harmonies. The piano opener, "Chase the Dark Away," has an ambience recalling Big Star's Third, with White reaching out like another Athens, Ga.-based songwriter, the late Vic Chesnutt. White lays it out cold: "Graveyards of lost loved ones/Just watch them drift away."