Jason Spooner, from Portland. Maine, has found himself a neat rhythm section in the guise of Andy Rice (bass) and Reed Chambers (drums) and, through countless live performances, together they have honed their ensemble playing to create an honest, easy listening album.

Everything glides along smoothly, Spooner’s silky vocals wrapped in the warm, gentle backing. Tracks like ‘Black And Blue’, ‘All That We Know’ and ‘Meant To Be’, folky, story songs call to mind Shawn Mullins - particularly the latter, a tale of a fiercely proud man on the verge of losing everything and, featuring Tim Carbone on heart-tugging violin.

The couple of faster songs, ‘Simple Life’ and ‘Fight The Fire’ have a neat groove going on, slightly jazzy, slightly Paul Simon in both structure and vocal intonation. There’s also a version of Talking Heads’ ‘Slippery People.’