Tomb

What we end up with here is Angelo De Augustine’s most brazen step forward to date. Tomb sees him not buried, but bursting forth with flourishing atmospheres. By nature his music is still very soft-spoken – almost Elliott Smith-like in that regard – but this is no longer the crackly, static-bound lo-fi songwriter that gave us Spirals of Silence and Swim Inside The Moon.

Tomb is a record of heartbreak that never wallows, a reflection on loss that does not allow itself to become stuck in the past, and resolutely optimistic at its core. What we find here, on what is arguably the pinnacle of his output to date, is De Augustine achieving the beautiful balance between introspection and grandeur; straddling the place where pain and hope intersect.

While the title suggests De Augustine's third full-length album is full of sepulchral tones, Tomb has a lightness to it. De Augustine is immersed in love throughout, so while he's working through tough stuff, we are ultimately left with the feeling that De Augustine is growing stronger and that love will bloom again.

Overall there's a warmth lacking on last year's lo-fi Swim Inside The Moon ... Elsewhere, echoes of Bon Iver and label boss Sufjan Stevens suffuse "All Your Life," his rejection of suicide, while "Time's" whistled melody confirms his latent optimism.

Tomb is truly meant for everyone with a personal ax to grind. Retrospection rules.

Dreamy and heartaching, its appearance is actually deceptive ... A gorgeous record.

Rather than allowing grief or bitterness to well up and overwhelm him, he instead uses his music as a vehicle to not only cope, but to also find some sense of reconciliation. On that end, Tomb doesn’t compartmentalize any lingering sense of doubt or despair so much as it comes to terms with those feelings, giving De Augustine some much-needed perspective and the chance to embrace the brighter possibilities that lie ahead.

Despite being his most polished full-length to date, Tomb shows him at his most candid and introspective.

By adding cleaner production, synth and string flourishes alongside poppier and catchier refrains, De Augustine largely hits the mark on Tomb. With a few curveballs thrown throughout, the warm and comforting lull of Swim Inside the Moon is long gone, replaced by a fascinating record that updates his prior work without losing any of its intimacy.

More blood on the tracks might have upped the ante, but as it stands Tomb is still a gorgeous wallow, with producer Doveman's minimalist touches left to indicate cracks in the facade.

If we’re all on some crowded, fractious Network Rail-style journey from womb to tomb, then Angelo De Augustine’s new album is almost disembarking from the crowded carriage and trudging towards a rail-replacement bus service. It’s definitely a document of a life that’s suffered something between leaves on the line and derailment.