Casey Phillips: Ever since moving to the Scenic City, North Georgia-based folk singer/songwriter Jennifer Daniels has been at the top of my list of pleasant musical surprises. Her voice is beautiful: pristine and evocative. As spine-tingling as her vocals are, all the songs I’d heard seemed to revolve around a single concept — love, either its acquisition or its loss. They were enjoyable but on a comparatively shallow level of enjoying the sound of her voice rather than the substance of her words.

With “Come Undone,” she’s still playing in the same ball field — the album is certainly about romance — but this time, the tracks have a unifying concept I found far more compelling. It’s like the difference between reading a dozen Hallmark cards versus a tragic romance novel.

Barry Courter: Daniels has been a local and personal favorite for several years now, and “Come Undone” shows her at her finest. The concept album allows her to really showcase her many talents and her artistic and vocal range.

Casey: Not counting two interludes, “SELAH I & II,” the album’s 12 tracks follow a metastory of a couple as they fall in love, suffer the normal slings and arrows of romance gone wrong and the aftermath of separating. Daniels doesn’t pull any punches as she analyzes the ups and downs of the relationship, which I thought was a welcome change.

Barry: Daniels has never been afraid to be honest.

Casey: The first third of the album consists of four tracks covering the early stages of a relationship, from discovering a spark (“You Should Love Me”) and falling head over heels (“Every Single Day”) to getting married (“Get on the Move to Me”).

In the second act, Daniels follows the relationship unraveling with a lack of communication/understanding (“Rage”) and betrayal (“Spider Noise”).

Finally, the final four songs cover the fallout as the lovers lament their lost passion (“Follow Me”) and realize they’ve left a piece of themselves behind (“All the Glory”).

Barry: In a world where albums are full of filler, “Come Undone” is a rarity. All of the pieces are there for a reason and they all work independently and together. It’s a lot of fun to hear Daniel’s voice, and as always, husband Jeff Neal, who plays mandolin, guitar and sleigh bells on CD, leads a backing band that knows it’s just that and does it well.

Casey: Even if the deeper attention to creating a unifying concept of the album eludes listeners, her vocals are, as usual, phenomenal. She rises to plaintive cries and dips into breathy confessionals, either trembling in a cracking falsetto or bursting forth with energy. There’s some sparse, complimentary accompaniment ranging from simple acoustic guitar to a chamber of exotic instrumentation that buttresses without diverting the spotlight from the album’s focus on Daniels.

After the concept became apparent to me, I found myself enjoying Daniels’ fifth album. Her voice shimmers and shines as usual, but she demonstrates a facility with song choice and lyrics I wouldn’t have guessed at based on her previous albums.

Barry: Daniels will hold a CD release party for “Come Undone” Saturday at Rhythm & Brews, so fans will be able to hear some of the new material live.

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