Carly Simon returns with Comes In Waves, her first album of original material in 18 years. The new album finds the legendary singer-songwriter exploring love, grief, anger, family, memory and healing with the emotional candor that has defined her work for more than five decades.

Co-written and produced with David Spencer, Comes In Waves also brings Simon together with family, old friends and longtime musical collaborators. Her son Ben Taylor contributes as a singer, songwriter, producer and musician, while daughter Sally Taylor adds vocals. Paul Samwell-Smith and engineer and producer Frank Filipetti also appear, along with the late John Forté in one of his final recorded performances.

The album takes its title from the imagery in "Slowly," a song that uses the movement of the ocean as a metaphor for the way emotions arrive and recede throughout our lives. It's an especially fitting idea for Simon, whose songs have always been remarkably open about the complications of relationships, family and the passage of time.

That honesty is immediately apparent on opening track and first single "Howl." Simon describes the song as occupying the space between betrayal and forgiveness, allowing anger to come out rather than letting it simmer. By the end, that anger has begun to give way to forgiveness, turning a deeply personal emotion into something nearly anyone who has experienced broken trust can recognize.

Elsewhere, Comes In Waves moves through songs including "Maybe I Never Loved You," "Peaches," "Love Has No Ending," "Mother Of Pearl," "Four In The Morning," "The More I Look For You," "Love The Way I Do," "The Father Daughter Dance" and "Do It Anyway." There's also a newly reworked version of "Share The End," originally produced by Samwell-Smith for Simon's 1971 album Anticipation, creating a fascinating bridge between the beginning of her career and where she is today.

The album also arrives during an intensely personal chapter in Simon's life. She recently revealed that she has been living with Parkinson's disease and underwent successful surgery for basal cell carcinoma. While those health challenges contributed to her years away from public life, Simon continued writing and working on music, finding that the creative process gave structure and purpose to difficult days.

After 18 years without a new album of original songs, Comes In Waves reconnects us with one of America's great singer-songwriters at a very different point in her life. Carly Simon still has plenty to say about love, loss, family and everything that comes rolling in between.