Tracy Chapman’s seventh album is a master class in understated elegance. It's a dexterous blend of the deeply personal (the gut-wrenching “Never Yours”) and the stridently political—all seamlessly woven together and held in place by the Ohio native’s singularly mellow vocal. Her social conscience is on full display here; “3,000 Miles” rails fiercely against urban poverty, while the starkly arresting “America” challenges racial bias and political power, its sparse instrumentation letting Chapman’s impeccable musicianship take center stage.