What makes Mason Jennings one of the best acoustic-based singer-songwriters you've never heard of is his ragged, intimate voice and simple ruminations on God, war, hope and gratitude. On his best album yet, Jennings goes much darker, with chilling tales of addiction, madness and loss, all wrapped up in fuzzy electric guitars, feedback and raw, distorted vocals. "Pittsburgh" is a straightforward, Lou Reed-ish story-song about a teenage breakdown, and "The Field," with its primal scream on the line "I don't want no victory, I just want you back," may be the most moving anti-war song ever written from a parent's perspective.