First Listen is the part of Musos' Guide where we tempt you in with lesser played tracks from the recent past or this very minute. Enjoy.

Initially formed as a side project from two other bands, Ultimate Painting are now a fully-fledged outfit in their own right. Jack Cooper from the band Mazes and James Hoare from Veronica Falls first met whilst touring together with their respect bands.

Green Lanes is their second album, and confirms this project has now evolved into something much more permanent. The album contains twelve new tracks, and displays the duo’s love of a return to a more stripped-down, laid-back sound.

The production of this album highlights a willingness to move away from a digital format, and to move back to an analogue approach. The first few tracks, ‘Kodiak’ and ‘Sweet Chris’ draw on the duo’s love of the late 1960s and early 1970s acoustic sounds, with the pair indicating their love of Velvet Underground as a major influence. ‘Sweet Chris’ is a well-crafted melancholy, “miss you” track.

Their ability to produce laid-back yet well-constructed tracks is an art in itself. Whilst listening to the album, you feel that they are not too concerned about what the finished article becomes. Yet, you can hear they were simply enjoying making it.

The album moves effortlessly from track to track in a beautiful, laid-back haze, making it perfect for those difficult “What to put on?” moments we all suffer from. However, it could be argued that its nonchalant approach could allow some to feel it’s too soft and mellow for its own good. Yet, dig a bit deeper in tracks such as ‘(I’ve Got The) Sanctioned Blues’, which has an array of subtle guitar hooks, and discover the band’s influences ranging from The Beatles to Oasis. You realise that the laid-back charm of this album makes it a wonderfully crafted item.

‘The Ocean’ conjures up images of all our childhood school holidays, lost at the seaside in a long endless summer. The lyrics describe:

“Take a deep breath / Into the ocean / Endless holidays / Playing in slow motion”

This track also gets a cheeky one minute reprise later on in the album, which is also repeated in the track ‘Tee Zee Em’, which shows the duo’s confidence and ability in their craft. ‘Break the Chain’ is a simple tale of truth and lies, which is delivered with sunken vocal harmonies and a dreamy laid-back groove. ‘Woken By Noises’ is a complete change of pace, and almost shakes our ears out of the dreamy state. The lyrics are upbeat and display some great wordplay, along with the rest of the track as they lament the perils of living in a modern city. We only wish we could have had a few more tracks like this:

“Smoking… ah, I’m smoking again / The pressure built up / So I’d thought I’d cave in”

The duo have more that exceeded the tricky second album syndrome, and we hope there are plenty more albums to come.

Green Lanes is available from Amazon and iTunes.