You know Shannon Stephens. Or maybe you think you did. This album, this third one, is a little different.

Say hello to Pull It Together.

This record represents a real leap in confidence and songcraft for Shannon. Greater maturity has brought a both a looser, louder style and a more sharply focused worldview. Call this new sound pragmatic pop: optimism balanced with the sharp-edged reality of life in 2012, as much butter as it is knife. Cold Seattle winds and recessionary times have tempered and transformed the soft singer-songwriter folk of her previous two albums. With Pull It Together, Shannon pulls more the lexicon of blues rock than anything else. Think Neil Young, born a woman in 1975.

The first single from Pull It Together is "What Love Looks Like."

Sings Shannon, "I'd like to take you home and turn off the telephone, 'cause that's what love looks like, love looks like / I'd like to pay the bills and set out your vitamin pills— this is what love looks like, love looks like.” Oh wow, it’s Valentine’s Day.  How appropriate.

Thanks to PopMatters for hosting the track today! Have a listen/download the track on their site here or listen below: