The touch of something human Is what I really crave Oh, just give me one thing I can sink my heart into Not another measure of these automatic blues

With these words, growled tiredly against a backdrop of greasy, industrial blues, Chuck Prophet begins his transcendent 11-song exploration into the heart’s desire to feel in a world of technology and automation.

Prophet has had a long, slow rise to recent Americana/AAA success, due to his creative strength; he simply refuses to dumb down his songs or production into a consumer bin. The result is a colorful record that tinkers with hip-hop, funky Southern rock, heartfelt folk-pop and downright mean metal.

If “man vs. industrial alienation” is the main theme of the disc, the subplot mines the darker side of humans. West Memphis Moon tells the arrest and trial story of “The Memphis Three.” Pin A Rose On Me, co-written with the distinctive Kim Richey, digs unflinchingly into an abusive love triangle.

Prophet’s guitar playing is the muscle mass of the disc, and Jason Borger adds a heady dose of keys that bubble throughout like fine champagne. Chuck’s partner, Stephanie Finch, adds vocals that manage to be sexy and wholesome at the same time. But it’s Prophet’s unapologetically real baritone that is at the heart of the songs. He has lived these tales, dreamt them in the belly of his tour bus, seen them in his wife’s eyes, and they must be told to a numb world that just might be saved by the knowledge they reveal.

Solid Gold, the disc’s final song, brings it down to earth with a simplicity that shows off Prophet’s big heart:

You don’t need to move no mountains, friend To prove your love You don’t need a membership Just take your pretty hand, put it in my glove