First Listen: Brandi Carlile, 'By The Way, I Forgive You'

Empowerment anthems have had a good run since the early aughts, during which time we grew accustomed to hearing powerhouse pop singers turn downtrodden verses into launching pads for triumphant hooks. That tried-and-true way of displaying feminine strength made the moment of overcoming tribulation feel almost inevitable.

Throughout that era, devoted her big voice and pop instincts (typically filtered through arena-scale rock, torchy country or folk) to plenty of high-stakes songs, too, but there was nothing sleek about, the sixth studio album by Carlile and her bandmates, twin brothers Tim and Phil Hanseroth, she posted an open letter to a Baptist minister she knew in her teens. In front of her family and friends, he'd refused to perform her baptism (an essential symbol of belonging to the faith tradition) on the basis of her sexuality. "I don't believe you did it to humiliate me," . "I think you struggled with the decision and simply ran out of time." She meant the note as a public display of forgiveness — not some sort of limp, passive, permissive gesture, but a deliberate, self-aware one that acknowledged how profoundly wounding the experience was for her. It foreshadowed the emotional resolve of the 10 tracks to come.Some of the songs on apply humanizing empathy to the stories of people written off by society. The gospel-rocker "Sugartooth" takes seriously the torment that drove an old friend to addiction and suicide; "Fulton County Jane Doe," whose strummy guitar intro recalls Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth," tenderly reclaims a murder victim from anonymity.