Breakup songs don’t get much more gut-wrenching than the title track to Lauren Spear’s second album as La Ren. On “Don’t Be Funny Without Me,” the Montreal singer-songwriter channels her heartache into a brittle piano ballad that pushes her normally conversational vocal tone into an aching falsetto, as she not only comes to terms with her ex finding a new partner, but her own role in pushing him away. (“The only way that I could hate her/Is if I knew she put you down, like I did.”) The specter of love lost hovers over the entire album, which is bookended by a pair of interconnected hymn-like tracks (“A Song Can Love You Back” and “Epilogue”) that serve as Spear’s motivational mantras for working through the pain. But in contrast to her more spartan 2021 debut, Leftovers (recorded in socially distant COVID-era sessions), Don’t Be Funny Without Me finds Spear seeking solace in the comfort of friends, with a cast of fellow indie-Canadiana travelers—including producers Fez Gielen and Jonas Bonnetta, cellist Eliza Niemi, and singer Georgia Harmer—bringing a communal, Big Thief-like vibe to rollicking folk-rock numbers like “Free Wheeling” and “Gold in California.” And on the gently drifting serenade “Die Inside,” Le Ren shares the spotlight with Saskatchewan country singer Kacy Lee Anderson, whose sweet harmonies make the song’s bitter-pill lyrics about clinging to a failing relationship much easier to swallow. Our Favorite Track: “Otherwise, I’m Fine”—a drum-machine-powered rave-up where Le Ren embraces le rock.