Safe Distance (LP)

'Safe Distance', the new album from singer, songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist, Janet Simpson, isn't a concept record, but it does take a journey. From Nashville to Reno (well, almost), to running away from demons, retreating from your troubles, hiding in plain sight, and returning liberated - ready to skip away again while your past looks on with a dropped jaw. But nothing here rambles aimlessly: Simpson's characters long to get free (and succeed) while navigating it all with confident purpose. They are reflective but never middling. They hurt but move to healing - or take the time to care for others. And they don't shy away from a good time - even if they're having too much of one.

Unbelievably, 'Safe Distance' is the first time that Simpson has widely-released an album under her own name. This is not to say that she hasn't been busy: Since getting her start in Atlanta in the late 90s, Simpson has sheltered her dark whimsy under the guise of Delicate Cutters, wielded formidable guitar attacks with bubblegum skronkers Teen Getaway, toured the U.S. and Europe as a crucial member of Wooden Wand and the World War IV, and found a new writing partner in fellow Birmingham, AL musician Will Stewart - with whom she fronts the lean, atmosphere-forward duo, Timber, while also lending her many formidable talents to his solo material (and vice versa). It's a lot to take note of and still doesn't cover her being the secret weapon on dozens of other albums for a wide array of artists. But 'Safe Distance' proves once again that Simpson is a force of nature - and it's her best work yet.