Familiar to most as the drummer and backing vocalist in 2008's runaway success story Fleet Foxes, J Tillman has previously enjoyed a healthy but modest career - this will be his fifth solo album - as a purveyor of ghostly acoustica and stark Drake-esque narratives.

As only the second of his albums to receive substantial European distribution, 'Vacilando Territory Blues' is most likely to be your first introduction to the soft, economical songwriting school of Tillman. With his breathless, almost-dreamlike vocals guiding the sparse arrangements like an aged sea captain, it's a beguiling first listen. In places sounding like a pastoral Will Oldham, in others touching on the black, nu-Americana of the faultless Jeff Zentner, 'Vacilando Territory Blues' is an album dripping in disconsolate introspection.

Through those intentionally light arrangements Tillman cleverly resists the urge to cloud his relentlessly poignant narrative with sound, instead giving his lyrics centre-stage, merely accentuating them with the occasional strum of a six-string or tempered thump of a distant drum ('Steel on Steel'). It's a master stroke of songcraft and allows Tillman to draw emphasis to his lyrics much in the same vein as a certain Nick Drake.

Inevitable such a precise and economical formula leaves little room for creative fancy, but when the songwriting is as rich and insightful as Tillman's it's of little to no concern. An unremittingly brilliant album for fans of windblown folk/blues, it's another feather in Tillman's increasingly crowded cap.

'Vacilando Territory Blues' is available now through Bella Union.

Official site: www.jtillmanmusic.com
Words: Matt Brown