The songs on this CD seem to circulate around the loss of a woman, although McNeil only hints at it with patchwork imagery. The folk singer from Laurel, Mississippi has a good voice, kindred to the soft masculinity of Bruce Cockburn and the southern soul of Stephen Stills, but he is not singing to the casual listener. The heavy subject matter takes more than one listen to digest.

The signature track, both lyrically and stylistically, is “You’re Alive,” a realization of the songwriter’s own contingency in the world mirrored by the death of a loved one. Other lyrics refer to the Book of Genesis, Avalon (the Arthurian Isle of the Dead) and the “crumblin’ walls of Jericho,” giving an otherworldly view of creation and death.

There is a disparity between the sadness of the emotional lyrics and the liveliness of the music, performed by McNeil, Larry Sieberth, Victor Adkins, Tony Dagradi and Johnny Vidacovich. All of the lyrics are written in the first person, and they seem to be written for an audience of two: God and McNeil himself. Everyone else is left in the dark by these introspective songs that do not clearly reveal the plot or artfully accommodate the modern short attention span.

Sometimes a songwriter has to discharge these types of self-concerned songs to appease a heavy and questioning heart. Hopefully Jim McNeil’s next batch of songs will reveal that he has found his answers and can get outside of his own head.