Album: Devon Sproule, Don't Hurry for Heaven, (Tin Angel)

That an album as disappointing as this should also be compelling says a lot about the talent deployed in its making. Heaven...is less rootsical than its predecessor and less even in its songwriting; Sproule's quotidian whimsy has also become audibly more self-conscious.

Yet for all its unevenness, the writing is always engaging and the arrangements exquisite. For those who ever had time for Mary Margaret and Rickie Lee, make some more for Devon.

Pick of the album: 'Don't Hurry for Heaven': it's the title track for a reason