RECOMMENDED RECORD: Admiral Drowsy: The Gutter Boy Spectates (bandcamp)

From time to time Elsewhere will single out a recent release we recommend on vinyl, like this one.

Check out Elsewhere's other Recommended Record picks . . .

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Unrequested, unannounced and unexpected – actually none of those, I'd forgotten prior correspondence – this vinyl album arrived at Elsewhere's door a week ago, the project of Luke Scott (Admiral Drowsy) of Lyttelton (and recorded in Christchurch).

Not quite a solo project although he plays various guitars and keyboards. Producer Ryan Chin is on percussion, guitar, synth, banjo and lap steel here too.

This lowkey collection of soundscapes and songs has an air of whispery mystery about it (the intimate folk of the delicate Spectators).

Drowsy/Scott does step away from hazy pop however, as on the slo-mo dreamy sound of the whimsical Mapped Out which has some of the melodic elegance of quiet Sneaky Feelings in its closing third.

Opening with a brief soundscape instrumental Vision From the Deep which hints at Middle Eastern melodies, this album covers a lot of ground coherently.

From lo-fi alt-folk (Searching for Gold) and the guitar-ambient setting of the glorious Lepers at the Helm which opens the second side, through the moody Hum Drum Noise From The Peddlers and Propaganda Infiltrates the Town to the lovely and ancient-sounding Hymns of The Day (with a gripping sonic setting for guitars and ethereal synths in the second half), this seductive collection hits points between left-field folk-poetry, early Tim Buckley (the closer Seagull Sun) and downbeat dream-pop.

As a few titles suggest, British-born Drowsy/Scott has some social observations to make (albeit sometimes tangentially) and this comes in excellent collage cover art.

Very glad the prior correspondence was forgotten because this hit the turntable with no expectation, and has been rewarding with every play.

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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here