Dark Enough to See the Stars

Mary Gauthier’s 2018 album *Rifles and Rosary Beads* was a career high that found the celebrated singer-songwriter collaborating with veterans for what would become a Grammy-nominated LP. Where that album channeled the healing power of creative collaboration, its follow-up is a quieter showcase of raw emotion, like on its title track, which mourns the loss of figures like John Prine and Nanci Griffith. Still, the album is one of Gauthier’s looser, more joyful outings, with songs about love (“Amsterdam”) and finding oneself (“Fall Apart World”) taking center stage.

Over the past few years, Mary Gauthier’s commitment to songs and songwriting as a means to process trauma has become clearer.

Album New Music review by Liz Thomson