The real charm of the album is that the core of it IS all the things I listed as the first part of those arguments in my opening salvo but it is his ability to lift those songs into higher states that changes everything. There are holes where rhythm guitars would normally be, minimal pulses of bass where others would over state the case, it plays with deft dynamics, crackling anticipation and sonorous dimensions. It isn’t so much of a “less is more” situation, more a case of some interesting sonic choices, ones that move the music out of the obvious and into the beguiling.
This is the sound of modern indie folk pushing into dream-pop realms, commercial guitar playing reminding us that there are other, better, more articulate and more emotive ways of doing things. It may look like hell but it sounds like heaven.