The cover art of War in My Mind,
Beth Hart's first solo album since 2016's
Fire on the Floor, finds the singer/songwriter sitting at a piano with a storm cloud looming in the horizon. It's a good visual summation of the record. Working with producer
Rob Cavallo,
Hart plumbs deep into her soul, coming up with a collection of searching ballads and clear-eyed blues.
Hart doesn't avoid good times -- "Try a Little Harder" conjures a bit of funky gospel, "Sugar Shack" pulsates to a sensual electronic throb -- but this is an album where a title as seemingly lascivious as "Rub Me for Luck" is a roiling bit of minor-key blues. The darkly introspective tone is there from the start. "Bad Woman Blues" struts, but it's with self-awareness;
Hart makes no apologies for being who she is, shows no remorse for being bad. It's a fanfare, but "War in My Mind," a gloomy ballad where she reckons with her demons, sets the pace for the rest of the record, which veers toward the slow and murky. As the songs pile up, the mood on War in My Mind intensifies, culminating in the denouement of "I Need a Hero," which is delivered by
Hart alone with the piano. Stark and sad but not broken, "I Need a Hero" concludes this introspective departure of an album on a suitably bracing note:
Hart has been no stranger to baring her emotions, but she's never sounded as brave and confident as she does here. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine