Esther Sparks’ 2004 debut Dirty Little Fingers introduced the work of a promising singer/songwriter. Two years later, her sophomore effort reveals the significant strides made in her craft since then. Recorded at Mike West’s relocated Ninth Ward Pickin’ Parlor (now in Lawrence, Kansas), Sparks boldly pushes into a little biting social commentary. “Cocaine and Heroine,” for example, deals with society’s enslavement of its powerless to keep the machinery running.

Whereas many a folk song has pleaded for world peace, Sparks’ “Peace” cleverly satirizes the superpowers’ self-serving rhetoric with such killer lines as “We have come to bring you peace / Won’t you just surrender please.” Heady stuff, and an avenue Sparks should delve into more since she has a knack for delivering powerful messages.

Other songs share a reverence for love and family. Domestic themes may seem straightforward, but they’re usually tied to a greater spiritual relationship in which one can’t exist without the other. That alone probably best explains the honest nature of her lyrics where seemingly nothing, even a raw emotion or a revealing self-discovery, is ever held back. A major step forward.