Alela Diane and Shannon Lay

More than a decade into one of contemporary folk's most quietly extraordinary careers, Alela Diane returns with Who's Keeping Time? on May 22 via Fluff & Gravy / Loose Music. The Portland songwriter's seventh full-length came as the consequence of intuition, coincidence, and community.

"I came to the end of a season last year," Alela shares. "My daughters had grown a bit. I no longer had babies waking me in the middle of the night. I could hear myself think again." More and more, those thoughts circled music. The ultimate spark for Alela's return to her music community came in April of last year with the death of her close friend and mentor Michael Hurley—folk legend and indispensable presence in the Portland music scene.

Tracked live in the attic of her 1892 Victorian home, Who's Keeping Time? was produced by Sam Weber (Madison Cunningham, Anna Tivel) and brought to life with staples from the local music orbit, including members of the bands Lucius and Blind Pilot and fellow singer-songwriters Anna Tivel and AC Sapphire.

Over the years, Alela's lustrous discography has gathered major critical acclaim from the likes of Pitchfork, NPR Music, The Guardian, and plenty more. UNCUT counted her work in their ambitious "50 best singer-songwriter albums" of all time roundup—a canon comprising John Lennon, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Paul Simon—with Consequence echoing that significance, declaring, "Hers is a timeless sound, that of a wayfaring troubadour, which only seems to come a few times a generation."