There’s a real honesty on display in Matt Ward’s songs. It’s there in his unvarnished Australian accent, as well as in the kind of nuanced country songwriting that favors quiet portraits of daily life over stock celebrations of heartland swagger. The Adelaide songwriter’s third album feels especially genuine and lived-in, reuniting him with Tasmanian producer Matt Fell following his Texas-recorded 2021 album If I Was in Dallas Tonight. Ward even brought along his beloved dog Shooter to the sessions, and in turn that trusty canine companion inspired the themes of solidarity in the fiddle-licked single “A Place to Stay.” There’s nothing showy about this record: Even when Melbourne-based singer Katie Brianna shows up for a duet on “Morning Light,” it turns out to be a rumination on romantic indecision that starts with the cautious line “So I guess we’re really doing this.” Ward and his players may display a dab hand at rousing roots-rock crescendos—see opener “Come Home Safe”—but many quieter turns ring out just as clearly in their own way. Observe the priceless moment when Ward sings, “Nothing’s made me feel this way before” on “Petrichor,” a stripped-down salute to the coming dawn that’s named for the evocative smell of rain hitting dry soil.