It’s too long, but it’s not like the clever bugger behind Moonbeams, Throw Me the Statue’s Scott Reitherman, is short on ideas. Mashed synth chords open the album like a rude electric shock before “Young Sensualists” introduces the listener to the kind of fizz-bomb pop that typifies most of this debut, stuffed, but not oppressively so, with all sorts of wantonly cute electronic sounds and percussive trimmings. At the same time, the Jules et Jim–like tale sets up the album’s governing characteristic of seductive melodies crossed with emotionally complex (and very clever) lyrics. Ditto the half-evocative, half-provocative found photograph that graces the cover—a holiday snap whose casual nudity reflects the album’s dual strands of warmth and discomfiting honesty.

The grand-slam track is “About to Walk”, in which a super-contagious chorus is subverted by hyperactive drumming and a brainy denouement in the form of a queasy phone call from a friend. Consider it a credible nominee to be this year’s “Young Folks”. The down-tempo turn into “Written in Heart Signs, Faintly” is where some might find their patience stretched a little thin, before the same mood is conjured to much better effect in “Moonbeams”. The album’s title track falls on the right side of sentimentality, over deliberately paced drums and an expressive bass line that doubles the warmly associative path taken by the singer’s memories of his grandfather. Even if Moonbeams overstays its welcome, such thoughtful songwriting at least provides sophisticated company.