The Pictish Trail – Secret Soundz Vol. 2

Many artists develop signature sounds; rarer is the musician who accrues several. Johnny Lynch is one of the few to do so successfully, with a palette as diverse as roof-raising dance duo Silver Columns and In Rooms’ playful genre experiments. For The Pictish Trail’s second volume of Secret Soundz, the spectrum re-restricts to a core of folk-influenced balladry and warm electronics, but the variation on offer remains striking and enriching.

Recorded in a caravan on Lynch’s adopted home of Eigg (the Hebridean island forever stitched into Fence-lore thanks to Away Game), Vol. 2 is wrapped into a fluent whole by woozy lo-fi production, which helps establish an absorbing aura of intimacy. Appropriately, the album’s finest moment sits at its centre, with Wait Until setting sad, murmured vocals against a persistent electronic throb; written following the death of Lynch’s mother, it’s the record’s heart in more ways than one.

Other standouts include the subdued and introspective Sequels, while the instrumental interludes that studded Vol. 1 are resumed to great effect. Leftovers from a soundtrack to an unreleased children’s film, these colourful miniatures act as bridges in two senses, both echoing the much-admired prior volume, whilst threading together the soon-to-be-beloved current one.