BRIT Award-winning folk-rocker Ben Howard spent time in southwest France and Cornwall, England, creating Noonday Dream; the result is some of Howard’s most impressive and immersive songs yet. Where his debut Every Kingdom favoured catchy hooks and rhythms and I Forget Where We Were introduced meditative darkness, Noonday Dream is, as the album title suggests, a series of unpredictable yet brilliant scenes that disappear too quickly. Ambitious tracks “Nica Libres at Dusk” and “A Boat to an Island, Pt. 2 / Agatha’s Song” move like short films, with Howard’s low voice providing poetic narration. “Murmurations” closes the album with a moving sentiment: Ignore the outside noise and be present for what matters.