Will Stratton's fifth album was written during and soon after he underwent a year of chemotherapy to treat stage 3 testicular cancer.
Understandably the Californian singer is reluctant to describe it as being solely about cancer but there's no mistaking the shadow the near fatal illness casts over all the songs.
The line "I got no use for wisdom, wisdom is for those with time" on Yeah, I'll Requite Your Love is just one example of this . Equally, on The Arrow Darkens, the lively ragtime guitar doesn't mask the fact that he is singing about calibrating his pain.
Yet what might have been a dark and depressing meditation on mortality is actually an exuberant celebration of life. This is tempered by some newfound wisdom that belies his relative youthfulness - he is still only 27 years old.
Over the course of 8 tracks, with an all too brief playing time of just over half an hour, Stratton embrace's life's contradictions without ever sounding forlorn or self pitying. Given the circumstances, it is remarkable how clear-headed and affirmative he sounds.
The album title refers to the process of staring into the void between light and dark. It also reflects a full immersion in David Lynch's Twin Peaks from his hospital bed!
The title track, Gray Lodge Wisdom, is like a quizzical reframing of Tom Waits' San Diego Serenade in the manner in which he addresses what really matters in his life.
While Waits sang "never saw the East Coast 'til I moved to the West", Stratton asks "why long for the East Coast when you're on the West?" and more personally, and poignantly, "Why sing about death when I've just almost died?".
The final verse of this great song is by Tamara Lindeman (aka The Weather Station). Hollie Fullbrook (Tiny Ruins) features on another track and other friends who help out on vocals and arrangements include Aaron Roche, Sarah Kirkland Snider and Nico Muhly.
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Stratton has previously been spoken of in terms of being in awe of Nick Drake and under the wing of Sufjan Stevens. With his soft, reflective voice and dextrous finger picking style, these influences also hold true for this album.
Muhly's string arrangement for Do You Love Where You Live? is particularly Drake-like and the opening of Dreams Of Big Sur is a ringer for Which Will.
Not all songs are so obviously about his illness. Wild Rose is a touching love song for and about his girlfriend while the track title Long Live The Hudson River Valley speaks for itself.
The closing track,Fate Song, is the one that is most directly addresses his close call with the grim reaper. "I must thank some god that I am alive today", he sings, although as an agnostic I'm sure he'd be the first to concede that, in reality, the surgeons, medical team and other carers deserve most of the credit.
This a album of courage, conviction and, thankfully, about being a survivor.
Stratton says: "I feel like I have to choose the things to hold onto that I want to remember and that I want to continue to make a part of who I am". I'll drink to that.
Will Stratton's website
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