Album: Guillemots, Hello Land! (The State 51 Conspiracy)

Clearly unafraid of a challenge, with Hello Land! Guillemots offer the first of a quartet of season-themed albums to be released by the end of the year.

Recorded in Norway with a flute ensemble, these eight tracks evoke echoes of all manner of former glories, from the psych-pop of The Left Banke and The Association discernible in the genial high-register harmonies of the river reverie "Fleet", to the Eno-esque sonorities of "Byebyeland". There's an overall warmth reminiscent of Sixties Laurel Canyon moods, particularly in the folksy reflections of "Southern Winds", while "Outside", a celebration of outsiderdom also gauging the dangers of rejection, shifts from hypnotic Bill Callahan-style understatement to ebullient indie pop.

Download: Fleet; Southern Winds; Outside