Playing It Forward, Singing It Back

Give a warm welcome and make some noise for these girls and boys.

Alpaca Sports, Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18, China Crisis, Hania Rani, Joe Jackson, The Man From Delmonte, Maud Anyways, The Painting, Patrick Watson.

Uh Oh : Patrick Watson

Best for : The beautiful music

Patrick Watson is a Canadian singer songwriter and he's special because no one sounds like him. He shares Rufus Wainwright's desire to make big songs and Andrew Bird's ability to be unconventional.

His songs have the ambition of opera, but in an understated way. He provides in pop, the rich emotion that opera lovers say they draw from Puccini, Bizet and Verdi that I can never hear. They're songs that cover great distances, stretching out across the miles and centuries to make contact. They contain melodies from the ether and voices from the clouds. Even if you don't understand the words on a song like 'Ca Va' you'd want to have it sung to you by your one true love.

His voice is made of silken velvet and it wraps itself around you seductively and hauntingly. It makes for something both fragile and beautiful like the brush of a spider's web across your face. It contains wonder, marvelling at the commonplace and making it magical. That's heard in these lines from 'Choir In The Wires'

"Thousand conversations hanging in the air

And somehow I can still hear you there."

The number of collaborations on the album is a surprise. They work beautifully, partly because the female voices are perfectly suited to the song and the duet. There's nothing forced about them, nothing pushed by the record company for publicity purposes like a reluctantly arranged marriage. Martha Wainwright is the only name you might recognise. The opening track 'Silencio', with November Ultra' is gorgeous, a spectacularly beautiful beginning to the album. Several of the collaborators are French, Spanish or Portuguese, and that lends a warm feeling to the songs.

Occasionally, as on 'Peter and The Wolf' and 'Gordon In The Willows' the songs wander into creepy, fairytale folk. That enhances the sense that these songs come from an enchanted place.

Patrick Watson is a rich and acquired taste, but a memorable one.

Taster Track : Silencio

Another Day : Alpaca Sports

Best For : Escaping from harsh reality into a more innocent world.

Sweden can lay claim to leading the world of pop and rock in three ways. First, Abba - a phenomenon to themselves. Secondly, death metal featuring bands with names like Defleshed, Humanity's Last Breath and Visceral Bleeding. Thirdly, there's a twee indie pop scene, personified at its most successful by something like The Cardigans' 'Rise and Shine'.

Alpaca Sports are nestled firmly in the third category. The thought of fame on the scale of Abba probably terrifies them. They have nightmares about the mere existence of the second category. If the Cardigans are the leading lights, they're the homespun, handmade sweaters version.

Within that niche they're very good. Inevitably some will dismiss them as drippy and lightweight. To do so overlooks their skill at writing sweet, catchy and addictive songs that put a smile on your face. In a world where cynicism and selfishness rules, they provide an antidote of innocence and naivety. You can imagine these songs being strummed into being by a window looking at the world outside, safe in their own bubble.

It's as hard to dislike the handclap carnival of 'Tomorrow I'll Be Fine' as it is to dislike a child's first stumbling forays into making their own music. 'Always On My Mind' is as much the guilty pleasure of Steps as the sound of indie poppers on a Saturday night hoping for a chaste kiss from a boy or girl they quite like. 'Tell Me' highlights the harmonies and dream-like backing vocals that are their hallmark. 'Slipping Through My Fingertips' is full of regret but without bitterness. The arrangements of 'Tonight' and 'If Tomorrow Comes' are spot on and remind you that there is some very good songwriting at the heart of these songs.

As a whole, the album provides 35 minutes of candyfloss for the ears, a welcome treat that doesn't pretend to offer a substantial meal. It's unashamedly twee, drawing equally on the gentler side of C86 and 70s bubblegum pop. If you think you're too cool for this, remember that another band in this category - The Boy Least Likely To - were once signed to Rough Trade.

Alpaca Sports slip down easily and warm you inside. What's not to like?

Taster Track : Tonight

Before The Rain : The Painting

Best for : Anyone who likes to be in at the start of something big.

Introducing The Painting, a five piece, energetic band from Scotland with a strong line in Braveheart rock. They're already shaping up to be the real deal, with melodic songs and festival sized choruses.

It's a polished sound that still feels authentic. It's fast paced to bring energy and passion. Press play on opening track 'Ride Alone' and you're initiating a breathless passage from one track to the next, with just the rock ballad 'Two Weeks' to provide a breathing space. This is Sam Fender on too many strong coffees.

Do you remember the 90s TV Series 'Quantum Leap' about a time traveller who leaps around in time, inhabiting a different body each time and changing history by righting wrongs in the host's life? The end of each episode showed his confusion as he tried to find his bearings in his next assignment. The relentless pace of these songs creates the same feeling. The trouble is, confusion is no substitute for genuine excitement. Most of these songs rely mainly on speed and volume for their impact. They go straight for the big bang, without building anticipation. Adding more light and shade would also allow emotion the space to breathe and be more convincing.Over a long album, and with 13 tracks coming in at 52 minutes, 'Before The Rain' feels like a long album, it's a little overwhelming.

The good news is that The Painting seem alert to this risk. The title track does build. Its ebb and flow makes for a more rewarding listen. There's more good news too. The musicianship is faultless. I like, too, the inclusion of 'Poem' showing a fondness for meaningful words and images..

The Painting are a band with massive promise and potential, a worthy addition to the heritage of Scottish rock. Adopt them as your own before they become too big.

Taster Track : Before The Rain

Echoes Of Encounters : Maud Anyways

Best for : Celebratory shoegaze

If, like me, you've spent much of your music life believing shoegaze to be a mumbling jumble of distortion and special effects you need to listen to Maud Anyways. She's tapped into something that allows shoegaze to be a positive and life affirming force.

It may help that she's French and at the centre of a thriving French and Belgian shoegaze hub. Being at the centre of anything good and new is exciting and allows you to buzz ideas and evolutions off like minded musicians. As a result, she's part of a movement that's turning the shoegazer's attention from footwear to the stars.

You should never ignore the feelings prompted by a piece of music. Surprisingly. listening to 'The Pain Inside', despite the expectations raised by the title, triggered feelings of joy that music could be this good. These are songs that suggest transformation, like the mutation of a caterpillar from a grub into a beautiful butterfly.

This is a gorgeous mix of chiming guitars, attractively muffled bass that enchants as it slinks past, choppy rhythms and a production that fills the airspace. I could listen to her vocals all day, dreamily drifting above and away from the feel of emo into pop.

On 'What's Gone Is For Nothingness' her voice floats eerily above a bass groove that proves to be truly addictive - one of the catchiest bass lines of recent times.The rhythm and percussion on the track feels loose but propelled by perpetual motion. 'A World Away' is celebratory and euphoric, untethering itself to float amongst the stars. If the chorus to 'She's Dancing' doesn't lift your spirits, you're probably still hibernating.

It's the joy that helps this album stand apart. As a reference point though, it's closest neighbour may be the pre-pop Lush of 4AD, and the solo work oftheir members Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson.

Treat yourself to the perfect album as Winter transitions to Spring.

Taster Track : What's Gone Is For Nothingness

Sentimental Value : Hania Rani

Best for : Those who enjoy film soundtracks that work as stand alone pieces of music too.

Hania Rani is known for her moving and emotional music that can be found at the intersection of classical, electronica and jazz. She's also become a 'go to' soundtrack composer, particularly for films requiring a soundtrack to complement deep feelings. Fortunately, like the non Pixar soundtracks of Randy Newman that stand as satisfying works when detached from their film, this album stands on its own two feet.

I failed to appreciate that 'Sentimental Value' was a film soundtrack until half way through but that means I had the chance to consider its effect on me and its success as a soundtrack to someone else's story. It works on both levels.

The tone of the album shifts significantly half way through, the lighter feel of the opening five tracks giving way to the more sombre tones of the pieces named after the main characters.

The title track is surprisingly positive, heralding the blossoming of new awakenings and the realisation that the day may mark the advent of something special. The fluttering whistling of 'The House' fills it with a graceful, electronic, ambient heartbeat. 'Childlike' remains light but brings a flavour of the nervousness contained in new situations. Without the benefit of knowing about the film, 'Riksarviel' felt like music washing over you like a warm tide , lapping at your ears as you half doze in the sun. It's a piece of stunningly pretty piano.

The mood switches with 'Agnes'. It's full of quiet beauty, but also a piece that feels sombre and contains a tearful loneliness. It captures the tone of the second half perfectly. The music is stripped back in keeping with the raw emotions. Spoiler alert: Gustav has a breakdown that is especially well portrayed in 'Gustav', with electronics carrying the heavy load of the piece.

This may be a film soundtrack but your interpretation of it and how you feel after listening to it makes it personal to you. It's an album that delivers twice over.

Taster Track : Childlike

Better Things : The Man From Delmonte

Best for : Anyone cherishing the return of gentle C86 / 87 /88 indie.

Like the return of a much missed friend, The Man From Delmonte have released their first new album for 35 years. Younger readers (that is anyone under the age of 40) may not remember the original 'man from Delmonte'. Clad in a white suit he would visit fruit farms and declare if the fruit was suitable for canning by big business Delmonte. The band couldn't be more different. You'd be more likely to find them eating tinned peaches than wrecking the hopes of local communities the world over.

They haven't changed, and the idea that a band can age greyfully (sic) and still make music that is as much fun as this, is truly heartwarming. These are songs filled with wit, charm and sentimentality. They're exuberant songs made for the pure joy of it. They write about what they know and feel now, as well as what they look back on fondly. They're homely, full of domestic concerns about meeting old friends, squabbles, the need for give and take. They're also songs where the action is more likely to happen hand in hand rather than between the sheets.

It's music from the grass roots . Songs such as 'Believe Me', Better Things To Do' and 'Hey You' sparkle with tunes and trumpets. Lyrics are free flowing, almost stream of consciousness reflections. These are songs that are sincere, sweet and not over produced. They contain true indie DNA at their heart. They don't care to be cool or angry, simply to be content with what they are. Where they are is pitched somewhere betweenThe Beautiful South and Half Man, Half Biscuit, but kinder.

Wouldn't it be great if there was a move towards discovering the class of C26. The Man From Delmonte? We say "Yes"!

Taster Track : Better Things To Do

Haf : Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18

Best for : A welcome taste of Brazilian and South American influenced music.

Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18 remain one of the more unexpected collaborations in pop. They're the sound of Brazil, communicated more often than not, in Welsh. It's an intriguing and immensely enjoyable proposition. You might think, though, that after seven albums the idea is wearing a little thin. You'd be wrong but, if you just listened to the opening three tracks, fans would be able to forgive you that thought.

On 'Haf' the band have taken a deeper dive into the music they love. They've tried and tested the beach party Rio vibe. Now they're looking into unexpected nooks and crannies to find new influences to cover in their journey, and considering other sounds from South America.

One of those unlit places is the darkest corner of the cruise ship dancefloor. Cast your mind back to a time when any cruise ship entertainer would bring a splash of exoticism to their act by switching one the controls of their pre-programmed synthesiser. That's the vibe to 'Como Te Amo' which is searching for the ship's glitterball from the opening notes.I liked it as a pleasant hors d'oeuvre to what I expected to follow. 'Tonnau Ar Tonnau' follows with the same vibe, and raises a shiver of apprehension that the album won't sound fresh. Maybe it's the fact that it sounds so synthetic. The notes and rhythms are in the right place but the timbre is all wrong. Have the ensemble started to run out of ideas? That feeling is quietly eased by 'Whistling Sands', a lovely song and one that sounds as much like a Carwyn Ellis solo number as a Rio 18 collaboration.

Continue to believe. Having flexed their musical muscles, 'Bella Estrella' and the introduction of brass and flamenco guitar begins the album's journey to something more authentic and satisfying, albeit in a Cuban Buena Vista Social Club kind of way. 'Shades of Red' explores a clubbier sound, its flute sounding as if it's come straight from the rain forest, slithering into view like an anaconda. 'Haf' has the melody and innocence of a song Bebel Gilberto would be delighted to call her own. 'Gwenyn y Gwanyn' drags you to your feet to rock out. 'Keep On Smiling' comes straight from the Brazilian street musician.

Everything combines to win you over and place the earlier songs in a context where they truly work. What they've done is to take the sounds they love and show you how to appreciate and love them too.

Listening to this, time flew. You can't ask for a better sign of a very good album than that.

Taste Track : Haf

EPs, Singles and Songs

'Because My Heart' is a new song from China Crisis. Early in their career they left the difficult shapes and passive rhythms of 'African and White' behind and moved towards the smoother, lush and more commercially successful sounds of 'Christian' and 'Black Man Ray'. That wasn't a sell-out but a move to a niche where they could do what they do best. 'Because My Heart' is a natural progression from there. It's a song that draws you into its pastel colours and slowly reveals deep feelings through repeated listens.

Joe Jackson's 'Fabulous People' is a classic piano led song about the emotionally confused and charged topic of acknowledging and accepting your sexuality. Lyrically it's quite Pete Townshend around the time he was writing 'Tommy'. It's a catchy and memorable song with an appealing retro feel.