A new Dar Williams album is always important for Fish Records, without her first two albums, my voyage of discovery to the wider community of contemporary singer/songwriters would never have been made. This, her fifth studio album (excluding Cry Cry Cry and the live disc) continues the natural progression made over the past couple of discs to a fuller, richer sound, but still keeping her singer/songwriter roots present throughout.
The lyrics to the eleven songs are truly excellent; topical, observant, insightful and sharp, but they’re never wordy or obtuse – a rare feat.
Dar has one of the most distinctive voices around, a clear, sweet soprano that delivers a melody in a wonderfully smooth way, but manages to make every word stand out – it’s always sounded great, but here it has a little extra quality, she sounds better than ever.
There are some excellent guest musicians complementing the backing band, most notably Alison Krauss, Cliff Eberhardt and Bela Fleck providing instrumental and vocal support.
The title track is a simple acoustic piece that would fit perfectly on either of her first two discs, and ‘I Saw a Bird Fly Away’ is full-on, multi instrumental pop/folk song – these two tracks demonstrate the extremities of the styles featured on the album. The highlight though is ‘The Mercy of the Fallen’, a superb reflective lyrical piece with an insistent melody and chorus (interestingly the press release states this song was written in the UK, while travelling from Chester to Leicester).
‘The Beauty of the Rain’ is a fine album from one of the most prominent singer/songwriters around – lyrically deep, stylistically varied, and distinctly Dar. 

£13.49