Nostalgia 77

Four years have passed since the release of Nostalgia 77's last studio album. Nostalgia 77 (aka Benedic Lamdin) has been keeping himself busy as a producer and engineer, having worked with Alice Russell and Quantic, amongst others. Breaking from his previous habit of rotating guest vocalists, on The Sleepwalking Society, German vocalist Josa Peit sings throughout. Peit's voice, equal parts gospel, Billie Holiday and Sandy Denny, lends the album a blues-ier, folky feel, especially on the Nick Drake-esque "Beautiful Lie" and the sombre "Cherry." The album makes great use of several almost-familiar hooks, covering a range of moods, from the dirty groove of "Sleepwalker" to "Golden Morning," a tense interlude of snare and upright bass that evokes mid-period PJ Harvey then segues into "When Love Is Strange," a Mingus-meets-Waits drum workout. This is a solid album of laidback, jazzy compositions of the quality you'd expect from the Brighton-based combo of Nostalgia 77 and Tru Thoughts.