Django Soulo, 'Shadow Work'

(Self-released, digital)

Look, I swear I’m not trying to convince anyone to elongate their Dry January, but yes, this is another album about getting sober and personal growth, among other topics. There’s a lot of recovery going on in the reviews this week.

Plainfield native Django Koenig, formerly of the Americana group TallGrass GetDown, wrote and recorded his latest LP as Django Soulo during the early days of the pandemic. Koenig came out of the isolation with Shadow Work, a pristinely recorded folk album that’s equally full of empathy and frustration.

“The Way the World Is” was written about Ben Bergstein, the founder of Burlington’s North End Studios, who pleaded guilty to a charge of lewd and lascivious conduct in 2022 following allegations of sexual assault. Koenig also taps into his fury at the death of George Floyd, the Black Minneapolis man killed by a white police officer in 2020, singing, “This is the way the world is” with disgust and resignation.

Shadow Work is dedicated to several friends who died recently. “Carry On (A Song for Kerry Monahan)” finds Koenig in full lamentation mode, plucking a mournful progression on his guitar before admitting, “Sometimes, it’s hard to carry on / Sometimes it’s hard ‘cos you’re gone.”

Check out Shadow Work at djangosoulo.bandcamp.com.