The Sarah Neufeld/Colin Stetson record last year, Never Were the Way She Was, was haunting, bleak, beautiful, delicate, sad, impassioned. The Ridge, Sarah Neufeld’s solo record, is also very beautiful and passionate, but pivots away towards more positive emotions—there’s joy, awe, surprise, and desire. This record runs at a hotter heat than Never Were the Way She Was. The title (and opening) track introduces the album’s general sound—Neufeld’s expressive violin playing accompanied by perfect textural percussion and, later, her diaphanous voice (which at times is a little reminiscent of how Colin Stetson’s voice sounds when he sings through his saxophone—it’s there as a cameo, not in a starring role). The song explodes halfway through into an exuberant groove that Neufeld later collapses back into a whisper; then she sings her secrets.[BUY The Ridge]