Albums With Warm Sounds and Uneasy Feelings

The strings and woodwinds of “Hazey Jane I” make it easy to settle into a song that keeps asking where the singer has ended up. “Poor Boy” sets self-pity to a loose swing, with answering voices that almost make fun of it. Both arrangements let the uneasiness stay audible in a friendly sound.

“Deathly” makes a request for distance in an arrangement that feels close and conversational. “Red Vines” puts disquiet into a light-moving tune you can carry away before the words are done. The smallness of the gestures is what makes the unease persuasive.

Light guitar and bright horn touches make the record feel sociable. On “Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying,” the tune moves faster than the singer seems able to make sense of his own unhappiness. The title song has a similar lift, with people privately looking for answers it can’t offer.

Smith keeps his voice and acoustic guitar close on “Between the Bars,” giving the promises a tenderness that makes them harder to trust. The moving fingerpicked pattern on “Angeles” will draw you in just as the words begin to make an offer sound costly.

Nina Persson’s soft delivery makes “Erase/Rewind” sound easy to approach, even as the repeating guitar and rhythm suggest that starting over may only send the singer around again. “My Favourite Game” keeps that smooth surface while the drive of the band makes the situation feel more urgent.

“Right Side of My Neck” has a warmth that makes a trace of another person’s perfume easy to understand. By “Jonny (Reprise),” Webster is speaking over music that still sounds welcoming, while the words make the loneliness harder to avoid. The album keeps finding room for both.

On the 14-track Pacific Jazz LP, Baker’s quiet voice and a small group make these songs easy company. In “I Get Along Without You Very Well,” the careful phrasing gives you time to hear each exception to that claim. “But Not for Me” keeps an easy pace while leaving the singer on the outside of the kind of song he’s singing.

The plain warmth of Prine’s delivery makes “Hello in There” feel like a visit instead of a speech about loneliness. “Sam Stone” follows a veteran’s addiction with a melody gentle enough to sing along to. That’s part of what makes hearing the words such a disquieting experience.

Case’s voice can make the car and dark yard in “Star Witness” feel familiar even as the scene starts to turn frightening. “Hold On, Hold On” keeps the harmony buoyant while she decides what company she can bear. The original twelve-song sequence ends with “The Needle Has Landed.”

The strings in “The Kiss” rise around Sill’s voice as though the song has reached somewhere safe. Follow that feeling all the way to “The Donor,” the last track on the original nine-song album. There, overlapping voices build into a repeated prayer that feels harder to resolve.

The bell-like touches and light voices in “Gold Day” give its strange images a place to rest. On “Piano Fire,” the singing stays close even as the guitars start to scrape against it. Across the record, small sounds keep drawing you toward scenes that refuse to feel quite safe.

“Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken” makes the risk in its title sound almost like an invitation. The arrangements stay welcoming when the singer is trying to leave or waiting for an answer. Hear how that pop lift carries into “Razzle Dazzle Rose,” where the music builds to a release the words leave in doubt.

The instruments in “Lake Charles” sound close and companionable as Williams remembers someone who has died. “Drunken Angel” keeps moving even when the singer has every reason to stop and plead. Listen for the way a band can make room for affection without giving the stories a way out.

The picked strings and quiet singing let you lean in on “Should Have Known Better” while regret is still setting the terms. “Fourth of July” is more spare, but the sounds surrounding its conversation stay gentle. In both songs, you can keep listening even when what the singer has to say is difficult.