Folding Leaves, the second full length from Oxford multi-instrumentalist Jerome Alexander, marks a notable progression for Message To Bears. 2009 debut long-player Departures sounded much like an snapshot of damp autumn mornings in the English countryside, but Folding Leaves takes some bold steps towards a more rounded and expansive atmosphere by mixing the instrumental pieces with some of Alexander’s neatly applied vocals.

A noticeable example of the changes comes in ‘Everything Was Covered In Snow’ as it begins with gentle twinkling keys under the faintest buzz, before ratchet glitches and spare drums give way to strings and distant field-recorded voices. It is reminiscent of the hushed Nordic tinkering of Amiina or Mum and this delicate frostiness seems like a move towards a more glacial and arguably trite ambient strand of post-rock-ish sounds, as opposed to the more folk influenced rustic pallette of someone like Balmorhea (a big influence on Departures).

This might seem like a cynical change were it not for the fact that: a) nobody really cares about “post rock” any more, and b) the resultant change sounds incredibly natural given the crisp glistening production quality here – something which seems to have been further accentuated by having ambient stalwart Keith Kenniff on mastering duties. He is a man who knows this kind of music inside out, and has himself been responsible for releasing some of the very best of it over the last five years or so under the names Goldmund, Helios and most recently (and a bit less ambient-ly) Mint Julep. So his involvement alone gives some indicator of the quality on offer here.

The problem with “that kind of music” is that all too often it is unengaging and more akin to muzak than anything else, something which both is and isn’t the case here. ‘Mountains’ is undoubtedly one of the most memorable tracks with its galloping guitar swaying alongside violin, and mollified vocals urging “we could run away before the light of day”. The same can be said for the rasping delayed guitar of ‘Farewell Stars’ set against a backdrop of finger-picked acoustic; it is soothing and feels a world away from normality. These, along with those tracks infused with higher tempo programmed drums and layered sounds (such as ‘Unleft’), are the moments where the album reaches its most engaging points. Conversely, the likes of ‘Undone’ and ‘Birds Tail’ suffer from stasis and similarity, failing to rouse much interest as anything other than background noise, plodding around in their pretty but plain uninspiring colours.

Opening track ‘Daylight Goodbye’ is a gorgeous introduction to the record’s charms (of which, I should be clear, it certainly has enough). Glimmering piano melts into ethereal whispering strings and echoey vocals which gradually pick up gentle momentum with drums before easing out on the harmonised vocals alone, a neat ending point on the newest introduction to the MTB sound.

There is a never-ending glut of similar artists in the “sweet-twinkly-evocative-instrumental-soundscapes” field, and sorting the good from the bad soundalikes can be tough. If I’m to be completely frank then I suspect most of it will never graduate beyond being woefully mis-used backing music for moments of high tension in teenage drama shows or simply as music for going to sleep to, and it’s difficult making a case for this music being any different. Which is a shame really because, that being said, Message To Bears is about as perfectly formed as these things come, and as good a choice to make if it’s that kind of delicate escapism you’re looking for.