Mary Chapin Carpenter returns with a shimmering new album, “The Dirt and the Stars,” (Lambent Light Records). It’s Carpenter’s first new material since 2016’s “The Things That We Are Made Of,” and this time around, she gets a little existential, pondering personal moments and tossing around rhetoric like a flask around a campfire in the process. Once again produced by Ethan Jones, “Dirt” was recorded entirely live at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in Bath, in southwest England, with 11 songs penned prior to the pandemic, though they seem to fit right into our new normal. The opener, “Farther Along and Further In” has a subtle drumbeat, steel guitar and gently picked guitar work as she delves into aging and gaining a certain wisdom. The melody is as catchy as you might expect from Carpenter, famous for songs like, “Down at the Twist and Shout,” “Shut Up and Kiss Me,” and “You Win Again.” On “American Stooge,” Carpenter serves up some rocky rhythms as she mocks the all American boy who hypocritically follows the American way to the detriment of the nation. “To hell with the truth/he’s suckin’ up to the dude,” she croons. (You be the judge.) The album’s title track, at nearly eight minutes long, dissects a shattered romance by listing the factors that can heal all wounds, which apparently includes listening to the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses.” Pensive and affirming, Carpenter hits pay “dirt” on this new record, a breathtaking blend of easy-going arrangements and a countrified folksy nature that is both cathartic and uplifting.

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Bruce Hornsby has been pretty demure since he and his band, the Range, won the Grammy for Best New Artist in 1987. For the last few decades, Hornsby has bounced around, playing keyboards for the Grateful Dead at one point, collaborating with jazz artist Jack DeJohnette and even performing bluegrass with Ricky Skaggs as he continued to release his brand of breezy, piano-oriented music. On “No Secure Connection,” (Zappo Productions). Hornsby, famed for the hit “That’s Just The Way It Is,” it contented on the “Connection,” as he slides into his new territory, creating film scores. (He’s crafted music for several Spike Lee films, including “Black Klansman.”) “The new album’s chromaticism and dissonance quotient is exactly twice as high (three songs featuring that language compared to one and a half on the last record),” Hornsby mentioned with “Non-Secure Connection’s” announcement back in June. “I feel like my music has never been a part of any trend that defined any era of music during my 34 years of doing this. I may be wrong, but that’s how it feels to me.” “Connection,” (like much of Hornby’s catalogue as a whole) succeeds because he’s not actually setting out to shock or defy expectations.

Clearly the only concern is following ideas that seem fun and interesting, not worrying about how anyone might react.

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The Killers hit the nostalgia mark with “Imploding the Mirage,” (Island Record), a record about infinite love and perseverance. The band, known for hits “Mr. Brightside,” and “Human,” extend beyond their classic sound, digging into an arsenal of musical stylings that perfectly suit lead singer Brandon Flowers’ unguarded character, allowing him to get sentimental and even a bit corny.

“Mirage’s” first single, “Caution,” opens with cinematic washes of sound before setting into an ’80s synth-pop groove reminiscent of Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer.” The song’s chorus erupts with anthemic intensity that suggests some kind of infernal liberation, but would also work perfectly in a prescription drug commercial promising clearer skin. Flowers closes the song with an admonition: “‘Cause it’s some kind of sin/ To live your whole life/ On a might’ve been/ I’m ready now.” The Killers are hitting the highway once more, driving an intent to live and explore, all the while keeping Springsteen choruses slathered in glitz and grit. They know how to write jaunty pop songs, and the best thing about the Killers is Flowers, whose virtuoso for penning and singing such uplifting tunes about women and loyalty, doesn’t fall on deaf ears. “I’ll be there when water’s rising/I’ll be your lifeguard,” Flowers sings on “Dying Breed.” And on “When the Dreams Run Dry,” he vows: “I’ll be on your side/When the dreams run dry.” “Mirage” is anything but – you can believe what you hear. It’s fluid and palpable and definitely not your imagination playing tricks.

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