Brandi Carlile was big for me last year, and I didn't even get round to properly listening to the album of hers that was actually released in 2021, In These Silent Days. It's classic singer-songwriter fare, right down to Carlile's willingness to write seemingly simple melodies, put them right upfront, and trust in those melodies to be enough for the songs to work - which they do. Putting aside the production, many of the songs on In These Silent Days could have been written and recorded in the 1970s, including some of its best - especially "You and Me on the Rock". This is an excellent record all round - more low-key than By The Way, I Forgive You but comparably good.
