“Koyo” is apparently Japanese for “gentle sunlight”, making it a near-perfect title for Junkboy‘s new record. Comprised mainly of the now Brighton-based Hanscombe brothers, Junkboy is a project primarily known for post-rock and electronica releases, making Koyo something of a departure, as dominated as it is by gently sunny folk sounds. Whilst some electronic flourishes remain, as on “Dr. Rendezvous” among others, the emphasis here is on acoustic instrumentation, carefully layered to create a hazy, relaxing and singularly summery effect highly appropriate to the album’s release date.

Breadth and variety of instrumentation is a real strong point on Koyo, with almost every track including some kind of distinctive sound not heard on the other songs. On the uplifting “Home”, for example, a glock and a flute mark out simple but enticing melodies, whilst during the end of the sung-in-Japanese “Present” a distorted but low-mixed guitar brings the otherwise typically serene track to a mildly unsettling conclusion. This slightly darker tone to the album could have been made into a larger feature, as the record is often in need of an extra spark to really mark it out. The instrumental compositions, as intriguingly bucolic as the arrangements are, don’t always demand our attention as much as they perhaps ought to, delivering parts of the album a little to close to the prettily bland category.

One of the album’s flagship tracks is titled after the fascinating concept of Stendhal syndrome, a kind of psychosomatic episode whereby a profound quantity or quality of artwork or aesthetic beauty stuns a person into various adverse states. It’s the kind of title which reviewers love, as it allows us to make comparisons with the nature of the music itself. To do exactly that in this case, whilst “Stendhal Syndrome” and the other compositions here won’t bring about dizziness or hallucinations, they are accomplished works in their own right and, for those looking for a calming and intriguing folk album with electronic touches, you will struggle to find one which satisfies those needs in as summery and listenable a way as Koyo.