Pitched at the tempo of a cat taking a nap in the sun, 's ninth album, 2021's , is the kind of enveloping recording that works best in one long, slow afternoon listen. The album was largely written remotely while the band was isolating during the COVID-19 pandemic and then recorded live at the empty Theatre Royal in Brighton with producer . The result is a gorgeously rendered production that has the feeling of an intimate concert, bringing the acclaimed group's moonlit chamber pop into vibrant clarity. Once again at the center of 's warm sound is vocalist and songwriter , whose Mancunian tenor lilt and knack for crafting deeply literate and poetic songs draws you ever deeper into the band's nuanced jazz- and classical-influenced arrangements. Bandmates and brothers and add deft layers of piano and guitar, while bassist grounds the band's sound with his deeply resonant acoustic upright basslines. Also on board are a handful of guest musicians, including drummer and clarinetist/saxophonist , as well as backing vocalists , , and member , all of whom add their own richly attenuated contributions to 's songs. There's a sense on that are thinking back on their past, their youth, and people they've lost, including 's mother-in-law, famed actress , who died in 2020. It's a sound perhaps best expressed on the symbolic and deeply metaphorical "Is It a Bird?," in which imagines the death of a loved one as something transformative. He sings, "Is it a bird?/Is it a plane?/Or is it a jettisoned beautiful warrior's soul/Blazing 'cross the sky on its way back home?" It might take some time for to fully grab you, but when it does, the album's measured, artful introspection is hard to shake. ~ Matt Collar