Tunng's new album greets listeners like a long lost friend coming in and giving you a big romantic passionate kiss. ...And Then We Saw Land's opening track 'Hustle' is so infectious that offering it upfront without the listener having put in any effort whatsoever feels like a treat akin to early payday in December.

The problem with early pay is that it leaves you feeling short-changed in January as the weeks drag on. BlackPlastic wouldn't go so far as to acuse Tunng of giving us the same feeling but the tone and pace of the album innevitably dips from this heady start.

Yet ...And Then We Saw Land is a lovely piece of melodic folk music that manages to contain electronic flourishes and reflects elements of anti-folk in it's lo-fi feel and the likes of múm in its playfulness. And when it works it really bloody works: 'The Roadside', for example, features a fantastic wandering, almost meandering introduction and builds in a lovely cinematic fashion.

So Tunng's album is by no means a mixed bag - it just has some good bits and some utterly sublime bits, like on that album opener or the stop-start rhymic vocals of 'Sashimi'. ...And Then We Saw Land is a grand day out of a record. A joyful, joyful experience - it feels like a car journey at the beginning of a holiday.

Download 'Don't Look Down Or Back' on MP3 by Tunng, taken from ...And Then We Saw Land [right click, save as].

BP x

...And Then We Saw Land is out on tomorrow, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD, LP and MP3 [affiliate links].