LUCINDA WILLIAMS
West
Mercury/Lost Highway

Born out of a debilitating breakup and the death of her mother, Lucinda Williams’ eighth disc, West, is chocked full of mournful songs, loneliness and grief. If you find yourself currently coping with either or both, West will feel like lyrical therapy, a soul-stirring shoulder to cry on (and it cries to be filed away to be used for just this reason in the future). If this isn’t where you are, and if you’re expecting lighter, fastermoving gems like “Right In Time” or “Metal Firecracker,” you may find it to be a glacially moving downer record. If you can get past that, there is plenty to love here. Sonically, the disc sounds somewhat like the link between Essence and World Without Tears, bearing a lot of the care and thought of the former and a smaller portion of the grit marking the latter. What you’re hearing, more often than not, is a crushed, pissed (“Come On”) and emotionally wrecked Lucinda. And, more often than not, that makes for great art. Yet it’s the moments where hope shines through that make for the album’s best moments, à la the easy strumming “Learning How to Live” and the lovely daydream “What If.”

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