All Fall Down Nonesuch****

Towards the end of this album, Shawn Colvin leans wistfully into the chorus of Mick Flannery’s defiant Up on That Hill: “And in the land where all are mourning/you hear the band, you hear them call/You can be happy/You can be happy.” It’s a moment in which the American singer-songwriter shows the scars of another love gone bad and her need to heal. Yet there is something distant and austere about Colvin and her music, whether covers or her own intense originals.

Rich, knowing, smart, draped in discreet and intelligent shades of folk, country and rock, the songs always seem bridled by a refusal to reveal all. Colvin remains something of an enigma, albeit one with a wonderfully expressive voice, a bunch of strong songs and a host of talented guests, among them Buddy Miller, Emmylou Harris, Viktor Krauss and Bill Frissell. It is a beguiling mix. shawncolvin.com.

Download tracks:Up on That Hill, Anne of the Thousand Days, Change Is on the Way