Album Review: Lewis Watson - midnight

Lewis Watson has matured since 2010 when he, his acoustic guitar and his emo fringe shot to internet fame with covers of Bombay Bicycle Club and Angus & Julia Stone (found among such riveting filler videos as some poopy video that features me being an 'assclown' and how to make a grilled cheese... honestly, if you haven't dug back into your pubescent YouTube history, do so now.)

Adult Watson brings to the table an album of substance and delicately spun acoustic pop, thematically lighter-hearted than his debut record and earlier EPs (see titles: it's got four sad songs on it BTW and another four sad songs). 

Subtle string arrangements add a hint of melodrama to love songs such as deep the water, with single little light floating on expansive washes of electric guitar, introducing us to his latest, plugged-in incarnation (though hello hello and run reassures us that he hasn't abandoned acoustic-mode entirely). 

While he's drawing influence from the trophy case of winter-indie greats - Death Cab For Cutie, Bon Iver, Ben Howard - he doesn't quite achieve the effect with finesse. But, admittedly, it's hard to do strings like Coldplay. A pleasant, easily consumed listen that comforts again and again, midnight is the musical embodiment of a B-grade teen romance.