Secret Meeting score: 80

by Philip Moss

Across eight elegant ditties, Michael Cormier’s new album, Days Like Pearls, casts a reflective eye over the mundanities of day to day life and childhood, but somehow turns them into events that suddenly feel that much more important.

Yellow Wasp Under the Picnic Table’s narrative is Antz through the lens of Ken Loach – as Cormier zooms in on a delightful summer afternoon tale that’s disturbed by a winged invaders who fancy a taste of ice cream and mayonnaise. And the loose, lo-fi sound, which is evocative of Phil Elverum’s more recent Mount Eerie output, underpins the quant tale perfectly.

Opening with looped William Tyler guitars, the LP’s most immediate cut is The Long Dark Closet, that again shows his knack at finding a story in the most unusual of ruminations. Lead single, Dinners, has a mid-seventies’ Neil Young quality – the sketch here recalling childhood meal times, backed by the clinking of cutlery. While epic closer, Night After Night, which comes in at almost nine minutes, documents a rummage through the attic as Cormier twists and turns melodically against yet another curiously immersive soundscape.

As an adult, it is so easy to get caught up in the hectic nature of every day life that we forget to look back. Days Like Pearls is a healthy reminder that when we do cast our minds, it’s often the silliest of little moments that can often be the fondest.