The Brightness (2007)

"Anaïs Mitchell is a bundle of contradictions. She has the earthiness of Shawn Colvin, the child-like bite of Joanna Newsom, and the urban jumpiness of Ani DiFranco. Her lyrics are sprinkled with rosy similes, while they simultaneously touch on everything from politics to literature to mythology. These elements, as disparate as they might seem, come together nicely. This is, granted, incredibly earnest music, but it's hard to hold that against Mitchell given how well she writes, how honest she is, and how far she's come in such a short period of time." (Margaret Reges, Allmusic)