Promised Land

As a seasoned songwriter with a flawless voice, Dar Williams can make even her most troubled moments sound as if she’s gliding over the water onto dry land. But listen closer and the songs unfold as spiritual struggles, filled with moments of ambivalence, of personality tests, and of reflective crisis. While her enlightened nature allows her to rise above the emotional dramas of young love (“The Easy Way”), she isn’t as easily pacified by man’s natural sense of compliance, as “Buzzer” revisits the Yale study where people instructed to apply electrical voltage to a screaming victim did exactly that because they were told to. “The Business of Things” acknowledges the humanity we lose when we view our interactions as just business. Williams heavily relies on words to convey her feelings. With producer Brad Wood, she doesn’t shy from expanding her arrangements to include some thrilling pop moments, and “It’s Alright,” with Marshall Crenshaw on guitar, bursts with an undeniably catchy chorus. A cover of Fountains of Wayne’s “Troubled Times” retains the song’s infectious bounce while emphasizing its underlying sorrow.

Discover Promised Land by Dar Williams released in 2008. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.

From the covers to the polished production, the choices on Promised Land all work well and play to Williams’s strengths.