Loney, Dear is Sweden's answer to King Creosote: a gorgeously spun, fragile-sounding album of beautiful songs, gently told. Emil Svanängen is the band - he plays every instrument, bar a couple of friend's contributions. At turns, Sologne is like a lusher José Gonzalez, a gentler Radiohead-ier Arcade Fire, and a less happy Sufjan Stevens.

A short disc that ends too soon at 35 minutes, the songs are built around a man and a guitar, then filled in and complemented with perfect taste and touch. Utopia would see all the James Morrison CD cases filled with this disc - it is clearly what people are searching for: listenable Leonard Cohen, poppier Kings of Convenience, better Belle and Sebastian. Cinematic vignettes abound - this may be one of those artists you've never heard of who you should actually hear.

4/5

Mike Rea