There is a bit of Willy Wonka’s ‘Pure Imagination’ concealed in the first notes that ring out from the glockenspiel on ‘Obscura,’ the first track from Fuzzy Lights gorgeous new record Twin Feathers. And that striking similarity is ultimately quite fitting, as the Cambridge-based group, led by husband and wife duo Xavier and Rachel Watkins, open the doors to a distinctive musical world filled with genuine, untethered inspiration and delicate brilliance. The album alternates between haunting instrumental hymns and bracing, boisterous numbers, but still maintains a smooth unity that threads the work together poignantly while also forming a riveting, focused listening experience that goes by much faster than the 52-minute running time.

There are plenty of spaces found within this record where you can lose yourself as your mind begins to drift, but there is also an atmospheric essence that breathes inside of these songs that leads you to a place that is at once wholly familiar but still feels like a new discovery. It all adds up to a lovely album filled with many evocative moments, transporting and beguiling the listener in equal measures. The aforementioned ‘Obscura’ kicks things off tenderly, with a mournful violin blending fluidly over a muted guitar riff and a wistful singing saw. It sets a portentous mood that the rest of the songs only add to, with ‘Fallen Trees’ turning the strident tension up a notch while also introducing Rachel’s dulcet vocals as she croons menacingly, “You need my anger to feed your desire.”

The measured simmer of ‘Through Water’ finds Xavier assuming lead vocals, guiding the song toward its gradual, potent release. These redolent songs lead me to both remember something I’ve lost long ago, and to think hard about what is meaningful in my life; no small feat, that. So, as the beautiful ‘The Museum Song’ played, I naturally reminisced about my treasured times at various museums around the world, and vibrant images of the Musée d’Orsay, the Tate, the Rijksmuseum and the Uffizi Gallery flooded my mind as the music washed gracefully over me. It was a powerful, moving moment, and epitomizes the deeply affecting significance and lasting splendor of fine art.

‘Lucida’ forms a tranquil segue to the album’s second half, as Rachel’s pensive violin wonderfully complements the doleful harmonium, crafting a vivid instrumental that says more than words ever could. ‘Rituals’ becomes indelible once it loses the recognizable acoustic strum of ‘Dust In The Wind,’ closing out with the soaring harmonies of the two partners lost in the majesty of the moment. ‘Shipwrecks’ has a bit of a Pink Floyd sound to it initially, before the tension of the track erupts at the finish in a Mogwai-like cacophony of sound. And while there are clearly reference points for the sound Fuzzy Lights create, the destination of these songs is entirely unique to them and them only.

After the sonic tumult of ‘Shipwrecks,’ the record closes out rather serenely with the accurately named ‘Slowing Time’ and ‘The Sea And The Heather,’ which ethereally ends the album with a dreamlike whisper. It’s an understated culmination of a truly distinctive work, one that will cause listeners to forget what plagues them at the moment, while also providing brief moments of both clarity and wonderment as the tangible gradually gives way to reverie. Twin Feathers is the soundtrack as all of that slowly fades away and the world starts to hum.