Stornoway/ Beachcomber’s Windowsill

Stornoway
Beachcomber's Windowsill
(4AD)

At Wood Green tube station in London they play classical music over the PA system. This is designed to mystify the local teenage hoodies (and presumably to stop them urinating on passing strangers or something), but instead I'd recommend they play Stornoway - whose music is the most humanly decent and love creatingly beautiful thing I've heard in ages.
The Stornoway story itself is worthy of a Robert Zemeckis movie: they formed in Oxford several years ago (no preconceptions please), played about a million gigs, sent their demo everywhere (I reviewed it for Planet Sound in 2008) then rose from the swamps of unsigned nothingness to sign with 4AD. I believe the phrase is ‘nice one guvs‘.
The result is a pretty fantastic record. I could put you off by conceding they sound "a bit Belle & Sebastian" and that they "indulge the odd sea shanty", but that just sounds naff: the music's got folk elements, but you won't catch them dressing up as 16th century soldiers for a whorish publicity stunt. These are dignified songwriters - dramatic, yes! Romantic, yes! But dignified.
'Beachcomber's Windowsill' has loads of highlights, but if it's breathtaking tragedy you're after, give 'The Coldharbour Road' a spin, while if you fancy actually enjoying your day, you could do far worse than the deliciously enthusiastic 'Watching Birds'.