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Forged in the shadows of dark Americana, “From These Broken Hands,” was recorded live in three days, guerilla-style, in a cabin in Höör, Sweden in September 2011. Mathew Barker’s fearlessly honest songwriting and vulnerable delivery is offset by his wife Beth’s soaring, evocative vocals. Backed by a band assembled from Mathew’s solo tour through Europe, the lush and lonely soundscapes seem to skirt the edges of Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac and Springsteen while remaining uniquely modern in approach. It is haunting, dark, country-folk with wild and deranged patches: the seemingly traditional folk instrumentations crack and give way to jarring psychedelic rock elements, heard in the eerie space echo on the beautiful anguish of “Prison,” and the crunching electric guitar work on the otherwise slow and dreamy “Trees.” The result is a hypnotic and cathartic journey through truth, struggle and faith.