Loney Dear

Pulling back from the symphonic openness of 2011’s Hall Music, Loney Dear finds Emil Svanängen in a quieter, more elusive mood. The music here is—as always—intricately and imaginatively arranged, juxtaposing hushed folk and blippy R&B (“Humbug”), intimacy and abstraction (the Bon Iver-ish “There Are Several Alberts Here”), intensity and restraint (“Dark Light”)—an eclectic sound that makes an intuitive kind of sense.