There is something soothing about turning to the spiritual on the darkest nights, and Congolese singer Celine Banza places her trust in the power and succor of divine invocation on Prayer, the follow-up to 2021’s Praefatio, creating a tender space to dissect the tension she feels about country, family, and her music. Anchored by Celine’s ethereal voice, scenic songwriting, and sweeping guitar flourishes, Prayer takes its inspirations from everyday life but layers these experiences into an epic narrative built with cinematic rigor across five tracks. “Show me the way,” Celine croons delicately on “Fa Mbi Lege,” gently riding the song’s emotive undercurrent to seek direction and assurance. In Celine’s artful hands, French, Creole, and English bleed into one another and channel frustrations (“Fragile”). But these troubled feelings find a counterbalance in the urgent pulse of the title track, where Celine’s stirring prayers reach a crescendo.