Jann Arden - Love is the Only Soldier

Arden’s songs are so deeply woven into our cultural fabric that it’s almost unpatriotic to criticize them—not that there’s much reason to. Fact is, Arden’s a superb composer and the songs on her seventh album, including the elegiac “Anna Rebecca,” the stirring “Ruby Red” and the impossibly catchy “If You Loved Me,” rank with some of her best. Recorded in the basement of her Calgary home, the album shines with palpable warmth and undeniable beauty. Let’s just declare her a national treasure and be done with it.