The firewatcher's daughter

"Whether the band is engaged in a breakneck sprint, as on the throttling "Mainstream Kid," or harmonizing with delicacy on "The Eye" and "Wilder (We're Chained)," the music twitches with energy and this vibrancy enhances a set of songs casually touching upon every style Carlile's played in the past. As always, she's grounded in Americana, often straying into a burnished folky melancholy but finding space for urgent country stomps and such full-throttle rock & roll as "Blood Muscle Skin & Bone," whose hook places it in a netherworld between arena rock and power pop. None of the stylistic shifts amount to showboating: it feels as if Carlile is following her fascinations wherever they lead".

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