Mary Chapin Carpenter’s career had a successful start-up, as reflected in a series of chart-topping albums released in the early ‘90s and the five Grammy Awards she garnered as a result. Since then, herrecordings have mostly stayed below the radar, although quality control has still been at a peak. To that end, Carpenter continues to eschew extemporaneous trappings on this, her first album of original music in four years. It’s then left to prodigious producer Dave Cobb to maximize these emotional settings and in so doing, he coaxes Carpenter into one of her most affecting performances to date. Beginning with the low-key folkish strum of “Something Tamed Something Wild” and ending with the meditative title track, Chapin opts for introspection throughout, but puts it across with both drama and determination. It’s little wonder that the music is so profoundly moving, particularly the more personal narratives “Hand on My Back,” “The Blue Distance,” “The Middle Ages” and “What Does It Mean to Travel”—songs that find Carpenter relaying sobering circumstances with heartfelt conviction. There’s only a momentary uptick in tempo—“Map of My Heart” and “Oh Rosetta” being those occasional examples—but regardless, Carpenter’s compelling delivery practically requires a mandatory listen.