Share - Pedestrian

Sometimes a record just works: songs become greater due to their collective power, and a certain atmosphere eases you into simple enjoyment. Forming around Andrew Sisk's songs, Share are a group who provide a warm reminder of the success of well-considered melody, echoing The Shins' unwritten manifesto. Ideas are never overdone or outstay their welcome, verses and songs realise their potential, delicately disappear, and slowly Pedestrian unfurls, gaining pace and strength. Sisk's lost North American voice is a reminder of old, familiar TV shows. Drums sporadically crash in, crackling and snapping, as subtle bubbling percussion becomes almost electronic, with Dance Dance Revolution toasting Belle and Sebastian's "Electronic Renaissance". Penultimate track The Yard recalls Dungen, a psych-folk disarray before tender closer The Dipper. Share are full of the joys of variation, never dogmatically clinging to one strand of songwriting. A gorgeous campfire of an album. [Jamie Scott]