Debut album from Jarrod Quarrell, formerly of St Helens. On paper it seems the key elements of this album would not necessarily sit well together – shades of calypso, horns, marimba, the occasional guitar and his dark lyricism held together by a minimalist electronica element running throughout. Yet somehow he makes it all fit together in a unique and sad-yet-beautiful way; the darkness of his vocals carefully counterbalanced by an underlying summery vibe. It’s an album I find difficult to describe, multi-layered and revealing more with each listen.

Melissa Whebell is from Readings Hawthorn