Allo Darlin' Bright Nights (Magenta)

On their first new album in a decade, Anglo-Australian indiepop quartet Allo Darlin' return with "Bright Nights" -- marking the return of their smart, beautiful pop music, bursting with lyrics that resonate with experience and melodies that chime, echo and soar. Drawing inspiration from a mix of classic pop, folk and country, "Bright Nights" picks up where Allo Darlin' left off with the warmth of 2014's "We Come From The Same Place," and recalls the confident and sophisticated sound of their second album, "Europe." The lilting first single "Tricky Questions" exhibits songwriter and vocalist Elizabeth Morris Innset's adept skill at taking specific experiences and creating something timeless and universally resonant. While "Bright Nights" isn't a country album, the timelessness of folk and country influences are woven in throughout. "My Love Will Bring You Home" might be written about Elizabeth's young daughters, but it's a mother's love song, disguised as a country love song. Allo Darlin's songs work because, to borrow from Don Draper's Kodak Carousel pitch in Mad Men, they take us to a place where we feel loved. Emotional trust falls, they often take us to parts of ourselves we've either suppressed or have yet to discover and then are always there to catch us if and when we get there. In a changeable world, the warm embrace of their new record is as needed as it is welcome.