Priceless therapy. Only $0.99 on iTunes.

Initially, I wasn't going to do a post about this because I have a tough guy reputation to protect. But for the sake of great art I will humble myself to you all.

I was having a bitch of a week—awful from top to bottom. At the very moment that things reached critical mass and I was on the threshold of losing it, this song came on. I hadn't heard it before and am only vaguely familiar with the artist. Before he got to the second verse I had burst into tears like a little girl—something I haven't done for a very long time. Not even when my mother passed away a few months ago. It was awful and cathartic.

Who needs a psychiatrist or religion with stuff like this floating around to help you out of the rabbit hole and through the thick bramble? This is The Weight off of Twelve Mondays, the new album by Ari Hest.

I’m going down to the riverbank this morning
Way before the family is awake
Gonna lay me down at the foot of the water
And spill out all my troubles for everyone’s sake

You can’t have love when you never can surrender
I’ve been spreading around my anger like a plague
I’ve sailed this far with my boat on fire
Fighting flames each day, too stubborn to expire

I will soak my soul
Let the river take control
I know it’s not too late
To let go the weight

The sun will rise and shine on me this morning
It will seep its way into my heart
And untie all the knots that have hardened me through the years
And I’ll embrace wisdom that sun will impart

And with this heat burning inside me
I will warm all of the people that I love
In their darkest of hours and weakest of minds
I’ll light up their nights with every star I can find