David Bazan has never been one for broad strokes or grand gestures. Even his catchiest songs as Pedro The Lion were imbued with a subtlety beyond most songwriters. Few could draw raw human drama from something so small as an unexplained cinema ticket, a la ‘Bad Diary Days’. A swirl of noise ushers the fantastic ‘Hard To Be’ into a pneumatic piano riff, looping synth line and a Pedro-esque rhythm section. It’s classic Bazan.

The title track uses a similar jumping-off point and is up there with Bazan’s best. ‘Please, Baby, Please’ has evolved significantly from the version that backed ‘American Flags’. The addition of an electronic beat and some soulful backing vocals take an already great song to a new level.

And therein lies what makes Bazan such a joy to experience. The nucleus of each track is a perfectly written song. The best way to sum up Curse Your Branches is to say that anyone who has ever enjoyed anything Bazan has done before will adore every second.

Mark Grassick