Shawn Mullins: My Stupid Heart

It’s easy and only partially accurate to pigeonhole singer/songwriter Shawn Mullins’ first new material in five years as his breakup album. Certainly the oversized cutout heart stuffed into his breast pocket on the cover, along with the self-deprecating title track and sensual, melancholy bluesy “Go and Fall” express that. But the socio-racial lyrics of the menacing and swampy “Ferguson,” and the hopeful tale of a drifter named Frank looking for better days on the sing-along “Sunshine” push Mullins into edgier, if always melodic, roots terrain. His velvet and burgundy baritone wraps around material combining reflection with loneliness and loss on the ethereal “The Great Unknown,” and the usually jaunty, humorous end-of-the-world New Orleans horn romp on the closing “Pre-Apocalyptic Blues.” ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆