Uncertainty powerfully animates the bulk of Laura Veirs’ 14th LP, Temple Songs, one which she deliberately left rough and raw, with shaggy moments used as accents. It’s an immediate reflection on the tragedies and injustices that filter through our purview with an almost staggering ambivalence. Take opener “Arc Still Bends,” which from the jump reckons with the cruelty that seems to be commonplace in many daily occurrences. Over a lilting finger-picked pattern on acoustic guitar, Veirs asks: “The arc still bends towards justice, right?/I’m not so sure in the middle of the night.” If bad people do bad things to good people and there are no consequences, what’s the point of any of this? The album is stoic but never pessimistic. This balance is summed up on album closer “Sunlight and Doom,” on which Veirs sings, “Sunlight and doom/Two sides of the coin coming for you.” Our Favorite Lyric: “Here, the winter light is low and strange/Ten Alaska nights burn in my veins”—“Golden Seams”