There's nothing fake or commodified about Mary Coughlan. She tells it like it is and this fine collection has a typically rough and ready blues and jazz soaked wrapping that suits her style well. The Galway-born singer has an intimate way about her and these home truths bypass the cabaret niceties of singers who like the idea of singing the blues or some such but really are only playacting. Even when strings amplify the effect on 'Family Life' there is nothing plastic about her approach. When jazz clubs return to normal you'd hope they'd be on the phone straight away to book Coughlan given the quality of the tracks here. Her sense of reality suits the present time more than most.