Confessions, an album of contemporary art songs from soprano Laura Strickling, is about personal relationships as much as anything else, and chief among these relationships is the longtime one with accompanist Joy Schreier. The quality of musicianship and communication of this partnership is evident throughout this recording. Strickling has a powerful voice, and her agility, adaptability, and ability to convey emotions beyond the text make it no wonder she has excelled in the art song repertoire. She has established relationships with each of these composers and here presents the world premiere recordings for all but one work. The recital opens with the titular Confessions by Clarice Assad, a dark-tinged comedic view of some of the struggles experienced by women. Gilda Lyons' Songs of Lament and Praise sets texts from 10th to 12th century Ireland, and these are unlike anything else on the album. Lyons creates a sound world that is a combination of folk song and chant with 21st century harmony, and Strickling's performance is sensitive and sympathetic. The lone work not receiving its premiere is Tom Cipullo's song cycle How to Get Heat Without Fire. Strickling brings familiarity with Cipullo's music to this recording, as she performed in the premiere of his opera The Parting in 2019, and this cycle tests the singer's range and ability to convey several emotions, from the humor of "The Pocketbook" to despair in the final movement that gives the cycle its title. To What I See by Amy Beth Kirsten, Strickling's graduate school classmate, is an intriguing setting of Ophelia's soliloquy from Shakespeare's Hamlet, with the vocal line and piano punctuating the text in remarkable ways. Michael Djupstrom's Three Songs on texts by Sara Teasdale were written at two different times: "I Would Live in Your Love" was commissioned in 2006, and soprano Kimberly Walton commissioned the other two to create a three-song set that together conveys stages of an ultimately failed story of love. Flutist Sarah Eckman McIver joins for the final work on the album, Libby Larsen's Righty, 1966, a nostalgic view of a young girl who loved playing baseball. Top-quality performances throughout and well-recorded by Yarlung Records.