It can be difficult to fully hand yourself over to an album that you sense might be met with the parental seal of approval. Usually remarks like: “I must be getting old” or “so, all these funny noises are classed as music now are they?” are uttered, which reassures oneself somewhat that the right kind of musical choices are being made. But, if you’re willing to put aside those esoteric tastes for just a moment, you may just find yourself slump into the charming clutches of Yellowbirds’ debut record The Color.

Yellowbirds is the moniker of New Yorker Sam Cohen, formerly of psych-rock collective Apollo Sunshine, and The Color – according to Cohen – has been a long time in the making. It feels like a labour of love, paying tribute to the great crooners of yesteryear, but it couldn’t work as a record solely on this principle alone. Cohen’s voice has always possessed a natural amicability but having now seemingly dropped an octave or two it proves to be particular arresting. Here, he’s joined by some in-tune contemporaries – including Twin Shadow’s George Lewis Jr. – to create some wonderful, flowing vocal harmonies which defy you not to bask in them. The most obvious example of such arrives in the melancholic ‘Rings in the Trees’, as the voices quickly augment within a fairly minimalistic setting. Cynics may claim an over-reliance on such an arrangement but most will be too absorbed to care.

The first six tracks drift with such ease, you begin to question whether you can be excused the enjoyment of such comforts. The billowing harmonies, as exemplified by both ‘Beneath the Reach of Light’ and ‘The Honest Ocean’, hold the focal point but a lyrical tenderness ensures the melodies are not devoid of conviction. Cohen deploys some well-timed restraint for the title track, before displaying some almost classic songwriting on ‘Our Good Days are Gone’.

Whereas Apollo Sunshine albums readily hopped between different styles and sounds, The Color works as a more cohesive assembly of material. The use of an autoharp, for example, is prevalent throughout which acts to propel the whimsical ambience and extend the gushy sentiment so that it oozes without the listener having to bestow much effort. It is these ingratiating qualities that make The Color such an invigorating listen and one befitting of the “pleasant” tag minus any of the negative connotations.