Michael and Tanya Trotter mine their closeness for vulnerability and tension. A husband-and-wife duo is uniquely poised to make intimate music, not necessarily in sound but certainly in spirit. Marital closeness and the power of shared experience are ripe conditions for vulnerability and tension, both of which Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter of The War And Treaty lean into on this LP. The album opens on a (quite literally) high note with “Litty,” a dramatic but playful ode to toking up and getting down with the one you love most, featuring a cameo from none other than Whoopi Goldberg. If that tune is to be believed, the pair’s romantic chemistry is as fiery as their masterful musical interplay, and that’s saying something. There are other sexy songs in the mix, like closing fever dream “High Heels,” which, thanks to its bombastic production and a go-for-broke performance from Tanya, somehow sounds like a musical theater smash as written by James Brown. The flipside of that passion shows up on “Reclaim All of Your Time,” an unlikely collaboration with country royalty Wynonna and psych-folk artist Valerie June on which Tanya reminds wives of ne’er-do-well husbands of a tried-and-true method for ending the drama: “Send that baby back home to his mama.” The record makes room for tender moments, too, like the rootsy “Lay This Bottle Down,” which offers a lesser-heard texture of Michael’s voice, showcasing its gentle grit and sturdy reediness while he sings of battling substance abuse.