Lucinda Williams - Essence (25th Anniversary) [Pink]

Lucinda Williams' Essence is getting a 25th anniversary pressing on pink vinyl, a fresh look at the hushed, hypnotic 2001 album that followed her career-making breakthrough.

Coming after the widely acclaimed Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Essence surprised some listeners by slowing everything down. Williams co-produced with Bo Ramsey and Tom Tucker, and the songs trade detailed storytelling for something more elemental, all longing and the ache of absence, sung in a voice that sounds like it has seen everything twice.

The band is superb, with Jim Keltner on drums and Charlie Sexton adding colour. "Essence" itself is a slow, smouldering plea, with Ryan Adams and Gary Louris lending their voices, while "Lonely Girls" opens the record with a spare, repetitive beauty. "Get Right with God" swings into fiery gospel-blues territory and earned Williams a Grammy, and "Blue" is every bit as aching as its title suggests.

Her writing here is more impressionistic than ever, built on repeated lines that work like mantras until they get under your skin and stay there.

For Americana devotees, this anniversary edition is a welcome excuse to sink back into one of her most quietly powerful records, and the pink vinyl makes a striking companion to its moody songs.