What do you do after a disastrous year? If you’re Meilyr Jones, you do the musical equivalent of “making lemonade when life hands you lemons” and write an album about it.

The Welshman exhibited a flair for indie-pop with the underrated Race Horses, but these songs – informed by his band split, relationship break-up and subsequent recovery inspired by a trip to Rome – are mini-orchestral odysseys.

Shades of Gruff Rhys and the Divine Comedy abound on songs such as Passionate Friend and Return to Life, while there is a touch of Paul Heaton to Jones's vocal.

His ambition occasionally gets the better of him but as tongue-in-cheek treatise on the music industry Featured Artist proves, Jones does everything with a wink and a wide grin on his face. meilyrjones.com