After taking an entire year off to recharge, I'm happy to report that the Mark Schultz we heard on his first disc is back with his strongest material yet. Though there's been a change in producers (Brown Bannister has taken over for Monroe Jones), the real strength of
Stories & Songs is revealed in that very title: the album's ten songs are strong, self-assured, and extraordinarily well-written. Songs rarely have it this good.
Impossibly poignant and deeply affecting on every single track, Stories & Songs asks all the right questions in all the right ways. And it does a great job of reminding us why we fell for the music of Mark Schultz in the first place. Exciting and emotional, original and passionate, Schultz makes a profound statement with every note. Don't let that uninspired title fool you: this is a career-defining album.
