Gulp: All Good Wishes review – beguiling sense of invention

Their 2014 debut Season Sun was the stuff that dreamy summer soundtracks are made of, but there's a bit more gravity and contemplation to Gulp's second outing.

The Welsh trio – comprised of Super Furry Animals' bassist Guto Pryce, his partner Lindsey Leven and guitarist Gid Goundrey – have gone through several changes since their first release, not least a relocation to Scotland and the birth of Pryce and Leven's first child.

Those life transitions haven't depleted their sense of fun, though: with a 1970s synthpop and krautrock sound informing most songs here, tracks such as Claudia oscillate with a satisfying shimmy, Beam judders with a spacey sci-fi overtone and the chiming Following Rain blends rumination with repetition to hypnotic effect.

Leven's soft, pliable voice lends songs like the wistful Spend Time Right Here With You a Wicker Man-style folkiness that treads the right side of eeriness, while standout track Morning Velvet Sky combines krautpop, punchy electropop and syncopated beats without getting too bogged-down in trying to sound clever.

Gulp’s judicious sense of invention is beguiling throughout this album – and besides, who needs summer, anyway?