Padma Newsome’s Clogs – the group he co-founded with fellow member of The National, Bryce Dessner, back in the late 1990s – have long defied easy pigeonholing, delivering four albums of ambitious chamber-music-meets-jazz, via post-rock instrumentals between 2001 and 2006. This, their fifth long-play set, arrives after a four-year break in releases – and, more pertinently, featuring guest vocals from Sufjan Stevens and My Brightest Diamond represents the ensemble’s first foray into material with vocals.

1. Cocodrillo (feat. Shara Worden)
2. I Used to Do
3. On the Edge (feat. Shara Worden)
4. Red Seas
5. The Owl of Love (feat. Shara Worden)
6. Adages of Cleansing (feat. Shara Worden)
7. Last Song (feat. Matt Berninger)
8. To Hugo
9. Raise the Flag (feat. Shara Worden)
10. We Were Here (feat. Sufjan Stevens and Shara Worden)

Each element has enough space to sing through the potential hubbub, and never is the mix uncomfortably cluttered. A labour of love this may be, but it’s not one where perspective has been obscured by affection. - BBC Online