ALBUM REVIEWS

VANCE JOY

Nation of Two

Atlantic

If ukuleles make their way back onto the pop charts, you can probably thank Vance Joy.

The Australian singersongwriter delivers an exciting sophomore effort with Nation of Two, a 13-track collection in which he proves he isn’t too cool to play a little uke, banjo or even that guitar-ukulele hybrid known as a guitalele.

Joy had a breakout hit with ukulele-led Riptide (2013) and became the opening act for Taylor Swift. This is his time to really shine — and he seizes it.

The sensitive strummer links up with several veteran songwriters — including three tunes with Dave Bassett and three with Dan Wilson — for an album of personal love songs. Joy is all over the CD, writing or co-writing every song.

The clear standout track is the alt-rock anthem We’re Going Home but other beauties include the ukeled ditty Saturday Sun, the slow-burning Alone With Me and the achingly beautiful I’m with You.

If you yearn for music by Mumford & Sons, the Lumineers and even early Ed Sheeran, these are your jams — earthy, folky and honest. Joy’s songs are nicely not overly produced, allowing a charming vocal strain every once in a while.

Joy’s co-writers tend to elevate his songs into something a bit more substantial, whether it’s with a brass section or strings, pushing him to go bigger.

DARLINGSIDE

Extralife

Thirty Tigers/More Doug Records

Not everything Darlingside does turns to gold, and yet the stylistic quartet doesn’t sound like anybody else.

On its latest release, Extralife, the band continues down an original path through an inconsistent 12-track set. The style is a melding of folk, chamber pop, baroque, progressive and indie rock that defies labelling. The lyrics sometimes veer into pretentiousness, more so than on the group’s breakthrough 2015 release, Birds Say, and some of the melodies are cloying.

But there also are moments of great majesty.

Some of the band’s influences lie near the surface. Its members surely had the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds on repeat until they mastered the four-part harmonies.

But the sound is rooted in harmony, and when Darlingside gets it right and leaves the search for deeper meaning aside, the effect can be sublime. This happens more than once on Extralife, especially on Singularity and Hold Your Head Up High.

On the latter, the band lays seamless harmonies over an urgently simple acoustic guitar. When horns join the chorus as the song builds to a crescendo, it echoes the gentle, unfettered encouragement of the lyrics in a manner that will find a home on many a nodepression playlist.