On Shadowlands, veteran troubadour Matt Epp embarks on a journey through the geographies of darkness within him, sending back transmissions of lush, haunted Americana that embrace the dualities of this human thing—love, light, and the absence of each. He traverses spiritual and physical worlds deftly, conjuring the twilight wilderness of his home with hazy, transcendental psychedelia (“North Country”), chasing muses on his road-worn Honda Shadow amidst incendiary roots rock (“Runaway”), floating through ghostly, glowing folk alongside mystical guides (“Uncharted Waters”), and raging against social and environmental injustice on the acerbic battle cry “Unnatural,” recalling Neil Young’s pointed activist anthems. Epp’s 10th album represents his first steps over the threshold in this odyssey, and its piano-led curtain-closer, “In a Flash,” is a promise to continue fearlessly navigating the gathering tempests and crises of faith that define its world.