Matthew E White: Fresh Blood (Domino)

Premiered last Tuesday in New York in the company of a 30 piece orchestra, the Virginia-born singer-songwriter follows his acclaimed 2012 debut Big Inner with another slice of sumptuous white soul. A masterpiece of compositional restraint, it's lush and brassy in all the right places, spare when it needs to be and focusses mostly on White's rich baritone and elegant lyrics. Rock & Roll Is Cold is the album's only heavy roller, a Sweet Home Alabama-style riff with a barbed message delivered in a tempered whisper that sounds for all the world like Gerry Rafferty in his prime. Elsewhere it's late-night soul grooves which dominate, as on opener Take Care My Baby, though Tranquility gives a nod to White's sprawling avant jazz collective Fight The Big Bull with its changes of direction and discordant guitar squalls, and the understated Circle 'Round The Sun is a gospel-flavoured slow-burner laid on a bluesy piano underlay and spartan drum accompaniment. Imagine Al Green jamming with Lambchop after a couple of bottles of cough syrup. Yes, it's that good.