Damien Jurado

It's a testament to singer-songwriter 's versatility that he's made nearly a dozen albums of largely inward-looking folk and rock music, and yet has never made two records that sound the same. He's released collections of sad solo acoustic music, hard-charging up-tempo rock, subtle psychedelic wanderings, and even he'd found left behind on thrift-store cassette tapes — and they all either sound like him or, in the case of the answering-machine tapes, perfectly reflect his sensibilities. Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son is intended as a sequel to 2012's Maraqopa — both were produced by the terrific Richard Swift, who's made fine records of his own — but it's far from a rehash of old ideas. Both records reflect on ideas of alienation, disappearance and the pursuit of self, yet Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son takes them further, while enshrouding Jurado's voice in arrangements that alternately sparkle and search.