The Hour of Bewilderbeast

A crackling fire of orchestral folk-pop beckons on this sweeping, epic debut from wooly-hatted multi-instrumentalist Damon Gough. There’s an undoubted DIY feel to *The Hour of the Bewilderbeast* (see 45-second bossa nova interlude “Body Rap”) but there are plenty of polished triumphs amid the captivating sonic scribbles. “Pissing in the Wind” transports country-tinged yearning to a rain-soaked northern England street, and “The Shining” is an impressively grand, horn-drenched heartbreaker.

At the Independent School for Emotionally Fragile Male Singer/Songwriters (mascot: the Fightin' Beatles) the headmasters award graduates tattered wool ...