Nicholas Allbrook - Pure Gardiya (2016)

Nicholas Allbrook seems to have toned down the puppyish, somewhat goofy style that so charmingly defined early Pond records. 2014′s Ganough, Wallis and Fatuna made a move towards something mature and personal, and this is more contemplative still. Unhinged psychedelic flourishes are mostly absent, with a kind of warped pastoral in its place (“Billy Leary”) as well as a sense of manic mournfulness, particularly on “A Fool There Was”. Lyrically, Allbrook is typically idiosyncratic, even evoking the delightful provincial witticisms of early Wild Beasts, culminating in an album that encapsulates both his inherent oddness and his evolving sense of restraint.