Fresh from an appearance on this week’s Toadcast, Donny Hue & the Colours have released one of those easy going records that rattles and rolls along being at once cheerful music for a sunny evening barbecue, and also enjoyably pleasant stuff you could put on in the evening over a glass of wine without depressing everyone or being too strident – mostly. It’s just a perfectly pitched album of contemplative, folksy rock ‘n’ roll that sways gently between the raucously ramshackle and the meanderingly introspective.

It reminds me of a slightly scruffier version of The Shaky Hands on occasion, although here the piano seems to drive the music forward rather than the bass guitar. The imagery is a little odd, almost evoking Elvis Costello’s Couldn’t Call it Unexpected No. 4 in some ways, slightly surreal and magical, and not always especially obvious. The music is equally enigmatic on occasion, with a brief intro and outro, and a couple of pretty long numbers giving the album a similar atmosphere to some of the more meandering Howe Gelb stuff. It seems occasionally to have lost focus for a moment and wandered off, but it always find its way back.

It took me a while to realise how much I liked this, although I couldn’t tell you why. There’s such a warm, welcoming vibe that it should really pull you in immediately, but oddly I am only realising this now. A lovely album – buy one!

Donny Hue & the Colors – Humming With the Flowerbirds
Donny Hue & the Colors – Mountain Piece It takes its time to get going but is eminently worth the wait.

website | myspace | buy the album (Officially released on the 28th August)