If ever there was a genre in no need of augmentation, it is the realm of male singer-songwriters, especially those with a penchant for the acoustic stylings of Bert Jansch and his ilk. But then few troubadours purvey collections such as this, wherein the vocally exalted frontman of The Phantom Band explores familiar terrain – love, loss etc – with a rare deftness of touch. Relying on a simple palette of folk-derived colours, chiefly acoustic guitar and violin, Rick Anthony paints his songs sparsely and without embellishment. The results are frequently dizzying (Any Way I Can, the title track) and sporadically celestial (album opener Clocks), largely thanks to the emphasis on unalloyed melancholy without the bathos that commonly diseases this particular species. Transcending even the tunes and timbre, though, the pearl in this oyster is Anthony's baritone, already a pivotal factor in the elevation of his group from the multitude of experimental pop outfits and here a force of nature, oaky in depth and colour yet willowy in flexibility. This album in a word? Astonishing.