Dan Wilson is at a point in his career where he can work with anyone he chooses to actualize the sound he hears in his head. That sound, as he explains it, “lives at the intersection of Americana and Beatles-influenced rock 'n' roll, a little bit of twang, and a lot of cinematic emotion.” It’s easy to hear that throughout the 11 songs on 2014’s Love Without Fear, his first studio album since 2007’s Free Life. Recorded in Minneapolis and Los Angeles over the past three years, self-produced, and featuring guests such as Blake Mills, Sean Watkins, Sara Bareilles, Natalie Maines, Missy Higgins, and Lissie and Sara Watkins, the album uses a fairly restrained approach. Songs such as “Your Brighter Days” (where one can hear the Paul McCartney influence), “Disappearing” (where he captures the warm feel of early-‘70s Bread), and even the title track (where he speaks of fame’s downside through the eyes of a Midwestern kid who’s never forgotten his roots), come across as modest tunes from a guy whose pop sense helped make megastars out of Adele and Taylor Swift.