lorna: london's leaving me

London’s Leaving Me is the fifth record by Nottingham, England’s Lorna and finds the sextet offering another matchless collection of earnest, egoless indie-pop featuring the unmistakable voices of husband-and-wife songwriting team Mark Rolfe and Sharon Cohen-Rolfe. The nine-song album opens with “Like Alastair Sim” – a ballad in which gorgeous melodies steeped with heartfelt optimism unfold at a deliberate pace against a growing soundscape of strings, bells, and sparse electronics using the song’s acclaimed Scottish actor namesake as its thematic guide. The single "Wayne Mills" follows with a summery blend of Scottish and indie-pop akin to Belle & Sebastian and Camera Obscura in which jangly guitars, analog synths, and languid, sun-soaked melodies are showcased as the Rolfes recount a tale about a neighborhood friend. The song features a guest appearance from Andy Mellon (Bellowhead, Damon Albarn) on trumpet. As a mid-album counterpoint to the densely orchestrated pop gems that precede and follow it, Lorna offers “Smothered In Hugs” – a stark interpretation of the 1994 Guided By Voices song in which an acoustic guitar anchors the Rolfe’s richly textured vocals to create a marked contrast to the atonal low-fi buzz of the GBV original. London’s Leaving Me closes with the Matt Harrison- (flute, guitar) penned “You, Me, and the Holy Ghost” – a reverie that captures Lorna’s dual mastery of tunefulness and ambience as Sharon Cohen-Rolfe effortlessly coos melodies from the lips of Julee Cruise while patient, tremolo-infused guitars summon Angelo Badalamenti’s work on Twin Peaks.