Girls Need Attention, Richard Julian’s new album, is a musical atonement: vulnerable, honest, and painfully direct as it chronicles a break-up. “I don’t know how to not write confessionally… the songs always feel like an shopping cart that veers in that direction no matter which way I try to steer it.” This, Julian’s Compass Records debut and first album since 2008’s Sunday Morning in Saturday’s Shoes, still serves up the occasional helping of his razor-sharp wit but ultimately reveals the singer at his most emotionally-charged. “This is by far the most raw I’ve ever been on an album,” says Julian, and his uncloaked narration is served well by lean and elegant arrangements.

Recorded at Norah Jones’s home studio, Girls Need Attention features stellar accompaniment from Nels Cline (Wilco) on guitar, Jolie Holland on box fiddle, and Sasha Dobson on vocals. The backing band, who was “essentially paid in fine tequila”, says Julian, a self-professed food and drink aficionado, contains such luminaries as Lee Alexander (who also produced the album), Tim Luntzel (bass) and Dan Rieser (drums), and is sparingly augmented throughout with keyboards (Dred Scott), baritone guitar, (Steve Elliot) french horn (Louis Schwadron), tuba (Marcus Rojas), and bass clarinet (Doug Wieselman). This star-studded cast is nothing out of the ordinary for Julian, who has spent the last few years touring with the likes of Norah Jones, Bonnie Raitt, Josh Ritter, Roseanne Cash, and Suzanne Vega.