Esther Rose Safe to Run (LP, colored Vinyl)

(New West Records) 11 tracks, colored vinyl, limited edition

On "Safe to Run", the fourth album from singer/songwriter Esther Rose, everything is just right. It's the quiet culmination of years spent evolving artistically, presenting Rose's always vividly detailed emotional scenes with a new level of clarity and control. As with her earlier work, her songwriting transfigures the chaos and uncertainty of a life in flux, but here she introduces a newfound pop element, infusing even the darkest parts of the journey with unflinchingly catchy hooks.

Rose takes a blunt look at her own vulnerability as well as more universal concerns and somehow never takes herself too seriously. This manifests itself in "Dream Girl" as a critique of the music industry's insidious sexism, but in "Chet Baker" quickly segues into a hazy landscape of memories of the dive drama and limbo of her early 20s. The song "Safe to Run" (a beautiful duet with Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff) directly connects the personal with the global, overlaying feelings of spiritual displacement with the larger, looming horror of climate catastrophe. Rose breathes in the ecstasy of the natural world in one line and pokes fun at herself a few bars later.

There are ghosts in the room in most of her songs, but she's invited them in and jokes with them over a drink or two. Ultimately, all these new achievements become points of light in the background, blending into the overall effect of the songs themselves. Esther Rose translates her world into eleven curious and captivating scenes. While the songs individually are breathtaking, absorbing "Safe to Run" as a whole feels like witnessing something taking shape, like experiencing the flights of fancy and the slow return to equilibrium as the clouds begin to clear.