a majestic, entrancing & triumphant work that dispels any burden of "the difficult second album".

in fact, they have comprehensively transcended any such slump or curse with this focused & confident masterpiece which becomes more magical with every listen. They wanted the album to unfurl like a journey, like a day, where opening songs are possessed of a brightness, an optimism that ebbs away over the record’s course. The radiant glide of opener ‘Iceland Spar’, gives way to the bleak lonesomeness of ‘Yellow Wood’, the moment where the sun sets, with closing track ‘Smashed To Pieces In The Still Of The Night’ ending proceedings at a peak of drama & intensity.