Pull It Together

Shannon Stephens' third studio outing, the heartfelt, ragged, and stoic Pull It Together, is a far more ambitious affair than 2009's austere Breadwinner. Opening with the dusty and dreamy "Wax and Feathers," a bruised yet defiant distillation of faith and verisimilitude, Stephens establishes a narrator with a big heart and a steely gaze. She's got attitude to spare, but it's not misplaced. The bluesy "Your Fabulous Friends" ("I don't have a good vacation story") and sweet country satire of "Faces Like Ours" ("When you have white skin nobody can send you away"), a duet with Bonnie "Prince" Billy, never come off as smug or contrite, due in no small part to Stephens' deft turn of phrase and effortlessly natural voice. It's not all sour grapes though, as evidenced by the sauntering "Care of You," the achingly gorgeous "Cold November," and the pitch-perfect closer "Responsible Too Long," the latter of which suggests "Pour another glass of something/If the night is unwinding/If the clock has stopped its turning/Just one more song/I've been responsible too long." ~ James Christopher Monger