Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms - 2009 (mp3)

Close to Paradise, the 2007 album from the Canadian band named after their lead singer, saw off Arcade Fire and Feist to take the Polaris Music prize - Canada's equivalent of the Mercury. Their long-awaited follow-up covers similar terrain - pitching Watson's floating, almost moaning vocal against a quietly clattering backdrop of pianos, percussion and found sounds, including a bicycle being beaten. At times, it could be a long-lost Radiohead experimental project, or Antony Hegarty singing while doing the pots and pans. Less immediate than its predecessor, Wooden Arms takes several plays before the haunting melodies and more obtuse textures draw you in. Beijing is a rush-hour whirl of percussion and pianos; the title track is a reflective moment of Billie Holiday-like blues. Neither quite match the seven-minute Machinery of the Heavens, a collision of sounds, styles and a sighed melody that it's difficult to shake off.