The Pastels – Slow Summits

Slow Summits is being billed by some as The Pastels’ first album in sixteen years – a timescale that only fits if you discount their 2003 The Last Great Wilderness soundtrack and their 2009 collaboration with Tenniscoats. But to strike both from memory for the sake of implying a comeback would be remiss, with both projects arguably key to Slow Summit’s graceful configuration – the former coaxing the band down more wistful avenues and ushering in a gentler aesthetic; the latter furthering the transition, and commencing an alliance carried over to this record’s guest appearances from the Japanese duo.

Opener Secret Music is an impeccable introduction, Katrina Mitchell’s purring vocals melting into rich (but never ostentatious) instrumentation, its airy beauty ushering in an album remarkable more for its sense of wholeness than its individual peaks. Nonetheless, there are standouts, including Summer Rain’s misty waltz and Come to the Dance’s lithe sign-off, which closes proceedings faultlessly, if all too quickly.