Alexi Murdoch – Towards the Sun

Recorded predominately in a single night, Towards the Sun is the kind of neo-folk album that causes Pitchfork writers to suffer terminal priapisms. Murdoch possesses a voice that is unmistakeably unique and the songwriting ability to match, a skill that allows the most mundane of tales to be held up in the same light as Scandinavian sagas. He brings an all too human charm without lapsing into overly-emotive vulnerability, but in a sense there is little about this album that will actually resonate with most people.

It’s difficult to pinpoint the root of this. For example, Slow Revolution features inspired lyricism, a lazily strummed melody that soothes with one hand and heals with the other, and an unintrusive range of backing that serves its purpose well, enhancing Murdoch’s forlorn yet intriguingly flat words; but it evokes almost nothing. Perhaps it’s simply that it’s now a sound associated with ads for hatchback saloons, but if that's the case then perhaps Murdoch’s talents are being wasted. [David Bowes]