Laura Veirs returns with Temple Songs, her first album in four years—and the first she has written, recorded, arranged, produced, and performed entirely on her own.

“I didn’t know if I would write songs again,” says Veirs, who spent the intervening years building a backyard studio, getting married, blending a family with four teenagers, deepening her visual art practice (painting), and expanding her music teaching. “Turns out that period was a gathering phase. When I made the commitment to recording the album myself, the muse caught me again and it came together very quickly.”