You may not be able to see the gorgeous landscapes behind Baby Grand, Stuart McLamb’s fourth record as The Love Language, but they’re so essential to the picture you’ll feel them in every note. Started in, of all places, a cavernous Virginia hammock factory, fragmentary demos came alive when splashed by sunshine during a move across the country to California, where the album was completed. Baby Grand has its share of breakup songs but this time, even as something is being mourned, something else is being worked through. Listen as the heartbreak and yearning of New Amsterdam come crashing down into the beautiful stasis of Southern Doldrums (the former wasinspired by Cyndi Lauper and Joy Division, McLamb claims, while the latter draws upon John Cale’s meditative solo records). The song Juiceboxx is what you’d get if Mick Jagger crooned his Emotional Rescue falsetto over a backing track by the Style Council. But it’s the finale that sends Baby Grand into the stratosphere.

CD - Digipack.

LP - Black Vinyl housed in Gatefold Sleeve with Download.

LP+ - Pink and Yellow Marble Vinyl housed in Gatefold Sleeve with Download.