In Brief

Dar Williams, “End of the Summer,” Razor & Tie * * *. The unsettling cover photo -- Williams in evening wear, emerging from the woods with hands covered in mud--sets the tone for the rising folkie’s third album. Some songs are more musically dressed up in service of late-night existentialism (“Are You Out There”) and cultural anthropology (“Party Generation”). But in more introspective pieces, she’s buried emotional bodies just below the surface, to involvingly disquieting effect. Williams headlines the Troubadour on Saturday.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).