Church of Scars

With an extraordinary voice and gale-force choruses, the artist born Sarah Grace McLaughlin casts a dazzling spell for her Pandora’s box of a debut album. As Bishop Briggs, a name she took after the Scottish town from which her parents hail (and to help avoid confusion with a certain Canadian folk-pop legend), the singer/songwriter earned her spurs on a musical journey that moved from London to L.A. via Tokyo. The result is sophisticated pop that calls forth bombastic, gothic-folk romance (“River”, “White Flag”) and bassy hip-hop grooves (“Hallowed Ground”).