Madi Diaz is no stranger to exploring the personal in her songwriting, and the act of processing emotions has always taken a lead role on her albums. Recorded with
Andrew Sarlo, her fifth full-length, 2021's
History of a Feeling, offered her rawest material yet, leading to television debuts and high-profile tours with artists including
Harry Styles and
Angel Olsen. On the follow-up,
Weird Faith,
Diaz not only continues to stare down complex feelings but shines a blue light on the dark underbelly of love, where the flaws, compromises, and insecurities lie. Recorded this time with
Sam Cohen (
Kevin Morby,
Emily King) and
Konrad Snyder (
Noah Kahan,
Stephen Sanchez), the album opens with the blunt and melancholy "Same Risk," in which she questions whether a new partner will carry their weight with lines like "Do you think this could ruin your life?/Cause I could see it ruining mine." That song also features a big, cellphone-flashlight-waving singalong chorus, something
Diaz delivers many times over on
Weird Faith. Among the many earnest earworms here (the cringier "KFM" notwithstanding) are songs like "God Person" ("I'm not a god person/But I'm never not searchin'") and "Don't Do Me Good," an early single featuring her friend
Kacey Musgraves. Mournful but defiant, the latter song makes catchy country-rock of tough sentiments like "Every time I wake up crying/I'm denying what I should/I know loving you/It don't do me good." Consisting mostly of similarly midtempo ballads and relationship obits, quasi-outliers include the spare, tender title track, in which she decides to try to stay ("I'm gonna have a heart of gold/And I'm gonna have weird faith"), and a pair of relative rockers in "Everything Almost" and the cathartic closer, "Obsessive Thoughts," which would have made a fitting album title. ~ Marcy Donelson
![Prelude to Ecstasy [Deluxe Acoustic + Covers Edition]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0602468068778_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Prelude to Ecstasy [Deluxe Acoustic + Covers Edition]")
![Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness [Clean]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/5099997855323_p0_v3_s90x140.jpg "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness [Clean]")
