Human Drama has risen from its own pile of ash and returned with an album that feels like it was just what Johnny Indovina and co. wanted to create; not because they had to, but because they wanted to.  In fact HD disbanded after publishing their heretofore final release “Cause and Effect” (overall great album btw, especially that first half!) back in 2002.  In the intervening years lead singer/ songwriter Johnny Indovina, Jr. put out two albums with a different band (The Sound of the Blue Heart, a band that was similar to HD but just didn’t have the same beats and feeling) and a solo album and intermittently toured mostly as a solo acoustic act.  Doing so he somehow found a rather sizable HD following in, of all places, Mexico.  This led him to regather the old band on a couple of occasions and the guys realized how much they enjoyed and missed playing together and wondered if they might have another fling in them.  Around two years ago they composed and recorded “The Liar Inside”, a pretty fantastic and engaging track, and the fire that had faded truly returned to form and out of this comes “Broken Songs (For Broken People)”, HD’s 7th full length studio effort.  Time, it seems, has done the Drama well as they sound relaxed and composed and confident on BSFBP.  The musicianship is simply impeccable.  Though the lullaby quality that they imbue to so many of their songs is still there, it’s stretched out moreso in these songs than in previous ones.  The effect is twofold as it creates more space for the instruments to play and relax within but it also weakens this group of songs on the other hand because they are not as memorable as past HD.  In short, this is an older and more mature and even more confident HD that has created what they have wanted to create and can enjoy.  And it’s good to boot.  If there’s anything that has surprised me about this release it’s not the quality of musicianship (that I expect from them) but the depth of the music especially in how the violin, cello, and sometimes piano and flute have been incorporated into most of the songs.  Sometimes it’s stunning and has caught me off guard as I’ve sat back, listened, and enjoyed this release many times over already.  If I had to liken it to one of their other releases I’d say that it hearkens back to “The World Inside” but just so much more self-assured and mature.  With each additional listen I’ve grown more impressed.  And this is an album that is so subtle and complex that it requires you to pay attention, and the more you listen the more that you will get out of it.- THowerton