HJALTE ROSS

Embody 7/10

English pastoralism, from Denmark

Singer-songwriter Hjalte Ross is a Dane who grew up in Australia, but his debut album is imbued with a very English sense of pastoralism. The title track sounds like Bob Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay” put through a Nick Drake filter, an air that pervades tracks like “Summertimes” and “Hunger For The Taste Of Time I Didn’t Waste” – all clawhammer guitars, skittering percussion and shimmering Robert Kirby-ish strings (arranged by Steven Turner). Ross’s hushed vocals are so blurred and indistinct that he may as well be singing in a foreign language, but it all creates a delightfully groggy mood.