In a lot of ways this is music for those peculiarly shattered moments, when you're dealing with some heavy emotions, and because of them feel a kind of renewed strength, empathy and humility. It's disarming like that, and not at all simple. I'm talking about Mavis, a project from Ashley Beedle and Darren Morris, that holds as its sole major inspiration a cover version of a Burt Bacharach tune called "A House is Not a Home". The version was performed by the revered Mavis Staples. If you know that song, one listen here and you'll know that Mavis have faithfully recreated and explored its soul throughout each of the songs on this album.

1. Gangs of Rome (feat. Kurt Wagner)
2. What You Looking For (feat. John Turrell)
3. Nemesis Required (feat. Cerys Matthews)
4. Revolution (feat. Candi Staton)
5. Puzzles & Riddles (feat. Ed Harcourt)
6. When I Walk With You (Heartbreak Song)(feat. Sarah Cracknell)
7. Sinful Love (feat. Disa)
8. Dreamers (Interlude)(feat. Chris Coco)
9. Let Your Love Shine (feat. Danielle Moore)
10. 4:14 (feat. Cherilyn MacNeil)
11. Feeling Lucky (feat. Edwyn Collins)

This isn't music that should be described in technical terms. It's emotional. This is music that connects you with a realization that everything you're feeling is everything everyone else feels, from the man behind the cog of a business suit, to the woman quietly passing you on a street, to the stray cat she paused for a moment to pet before you passed by. Everything. This is music that emotionally connects with everything, and paints those emotions so painfully clear that you may not be able to do much, besides stop whatever you're doing and realize it all.

The emotional journey is masterfully guided by a range of guest vocalists, from Sarah Cracknell and Disa to Kurt Wagner, John Turrell and many others. Every song hosts a different singer, but the soul of the sound doesn't change. It doesn't matter if the chief influence is soft and folky or warm and soulful, which are in fact the primary influences at play. At times you'll clearly hear the influence of the dub production process, as echoes swirl in that unmistakable style.

If winter had a favorite album, this might be it.

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