Conrad Vingoe – Simple Secrets

In an age where gunshots are establishing themselves as a legitimate form of percussion, Johnny Rotten advertises butter and everyone seems to have a fucking vuvuzela, it's quite a relief to hear something that is indisputably inoffensive. Thankfully, Brighton's Conrad Vingoe seems to have produced this summer's definitive soundtrack to smiling sleepily at people in cafés, occasionally mustering the energy to compliment the muffins, plus your mother would love him.

Simple Secrets consists of 14 analogue recordings of the basics: acoustic guitar, double bass, piano, drums and Vingoe's mellowest-of-yellow vocals. The combination is reminiscent of Damien Rice, even Jack Johnson if he'd never been to the beach, and there are moments of true warmth, notably Ghost Behind – swinging with a kind of effortlessness which suggests Vingoe could do this forever. Whether he can find a way to truly set himself apart from the vast crowd remains unclear, but the man's gathering steam. [Mark Holland]