Album: Grasscut, Unearth (Ninja Tune)

Grasscut push the electropop envelope in intriguing new directions with Unearth, its songs inspired by alliances of people, poetry and places.

"Cut Grass", for instance, was prompted by a Larkin poem, the wistful synths and mild harmonies colluding in a sunrise swell; and a poignant tremor of violin and undulating piano drives "Blink in the Night" to East Coker, from Eliot's Four Quartets. "A Mysterious Disappearance" animates Agatha Christie's attempt to escape, and "We Fold Ourselves" evokes Tennyson's Silent Pool in Surrey, with Kathleen Ferrer co-opted as harmony for Grasscut's vocalist Andrew Phillips. The Englishness of the endeavour is cemented by Robert Wyatt's benignly humming presence on the concluding "Richardson Road".

Download: Cut Grass; Richardson Road; Pieces; Blink in the Night