Max Clarke is a Brooklyn-based singer songwriter who records as Cut Worms. Genre wise, his music sits neatly alongside the likes of Sufjan Stevens, The Lemonheads, the grunge era and the late ’60s Haight-Ashbury hippy scene. Beautifully crafted songs are what he’s all about, nothing radical or ground-breaking, but with a great eye for conversational lyrics.

This new studio album, Transmitter, his fourth, carries on in this easy-breezy tradition. It’s effortlessly performed and produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. In the main, there are many ruminations on everyday concerns: life, loss, work, just getting by. ‘Barfly’ sees the protagonist hiding from his troubles in bars, whereas ‘Worlds Unknown’ and ‘Don’t Look Down’ come across like the best songs Big Star never wrote. They have that zesty tang of bitterness, and Clarke’s voice has the sweet guilelessness of Alex Chilton. It’s warm, self-effacing and slightly sad, and really draws the listener in.

‘Walk In An Absent Mind’ has a soupçon of The Beatles’ lovely ‘Blackbird’, perfect for the days when winter slides into spring. ‘Dreams’ is truly beautiful though, a ballad with a shimmering cinematic glow, an elegiac piano line, and a certain resigned-ness tucked into its seams. You could imagine it perhaps in a Wes Anderson denouement, as the eccentric ensemble of characters meet their fate. In short, the album has many poignant moments, but no real masterpieces. Nonetheless, the potential for future greatness is definitely there.