For their Bella Union debut London’s My Sad Captains deliver a gently compelling restatement of musical first principles, capturing everything memorable about their first two records while dialling back on the zero-budget indie tweeness.

“In a way, the album is about saying goodbye,” frontman Ed Wallis explained recently , “making a resolution to keep on believing in ourselves, as people and a band, and being comfortable in our ability to stand our ground on stage with who we are, and not trying to figure out some quick schemes towards brief rewards.”

As per his spiel, Best Of Times brims with bitter-sweet, understated songs, which seem forever on the brink of alt. pop orthodoxy but never quite tip into cliché. There’s always an unexpected shift in time signature or a guitar solo blossoming where you weren’t expecting. The ambiance is best articulated on single ‘Goodbye’, a swaying number that can’t make up its mind whether it wishes to be hippyish folk pop or fringe-in-face student disco lullaby. My Sad Captains seem to be pulling in two directions at once, not sure what sort of band they are, quietly revelling in the confusion.