Alone Aboard The Ark, while remaining unabashedly low-key, seems to embrace a more commercial sound, expanding on their more folky origins to create some gorgeously well-crafted chamber-pop music.
As has become customary for The Leisure Society, Hemming's lyrics and gift for storytelling once again stand out, his wonderful couplets and warm voice helping to lift many of the weaker moments here above torpor.
While there are some tentative aspects of this record, it is hard to imagine too many similar releases this year which have such a ballsy intelligence to their songs.
The Leisure Society have certainly woven a kind of magic here, but with all their era-hopping it falls a little short of the climaxes of their live performances.
Alone Aboard the Ark doesn’t tackle any major challenges that might have elevated The Leisure Society above an expanding pool of indie folk artists they’re now swimming amongst.