Bedroom studio albums don’t come any more melancholy than this wonderful piece of work, the second album from Londoner Daniel Woodhouse.
Following last year's debut, Life after Defo, Woodhouse has dug deeper, focusing on emotional commitment (he has recently married) across a series of tracks that sound as if his most obvious reference points (The xx, James Blake, Four Tet) have woken up to the advantages of obvious pop-song melodies.
Melodic sheen aside, the songs here are wraith-like in their simplicity, and yet, because of clear-cut vocals, descriptive lyrics (sometimes too honest for their own good – or so his new partner might think) and an insistent chillwave sensibility, they come across fully formed in mood and tone.
Love and how to figure it out has rarely sounded so hushed and heartwarming.
