Ryan Montbleau is nervous, but he’s still got hope. “If the 1930s was The Great Depression, then I feel like this period we’re living through now is The Great Anxiety,” he muses. “Everybody’s stressed, everybody’s worried, everybody’s facing impossible decisions. But at the end of the day, you’ve still got to find some sliver of optimism that keeps you going, some spark of glory amidst all the darkness.” It’s that indefatigable optimism that fuels Montbleau’s rousing new album. Recorded in a series of freewheeling, spontaneous sessions with his new all-star band, the collection finds Montbleau exploring the full spectrum of his eclectic influences, blurring the lines between folk and rock, funk and soul, hip-hop and reggae, all with a preternatural ease that belies the intensely focused craftsmanship behind it. The songs are sprawling and unpredictable here, grappling with a modern world perpetually teetering on the edge of chaos. The performances, meanwhile, insist on joy and communion in the face of it all, pairing danceable grooves with euphoric melodies and hooks. The result is an honest, emotionally vulnerable reckoning with the times from an artist willing to embrace ambiguity and nuance in an age of reactionary intransigence. It’s a bittersweet work of profound catharsis, one that acknowledges the inevitability of pain and uncertainty while at the same time celebrating our limitless capacity for growth and love.