Discordant, incongruous and with vocals that often refuse to hit the right notes (let’s reference my hero Calvin Johnson, though Blackman at least makes pretence to hitting the right notes), Guy Blackman In Japan will jar with any listener who has spent a good while admiring canonised folkies like James Taylor, Stephen Stills, Joni Mitchell or Jack Johnson (yes, canon). If you prefer to side with Bill Fay, Syd Barrett, Robert Wyatt or Mayo Thompson then there will be much to admire in this slight EP. It could almost read like an acoustic version of Japan’s Boris. It’s saddlesore, for sure.

Most noticeable within, Older, a song that starts eerily like Big Star’s Holocaust. Ignore some of its more cloying lyrics (Blackman has at times a tendency to be too effete – or is that just me with more rings around my heart the older I get?) and it is a gloriously bleak tune. It shouldn’t work, the blatant borrowing, the voice that hangs with its rough Australian timbre, the melodramatic poesie concerning a little bird. And the guitar solo that butts in on the piano midway, just as soon to leave. But Blackman’s songs seem to be the victory of his spirit and personality over their individual ingredients. And yes, the song is a triumph; a rare work of whimsy with some grit and depth.

The other stand out track, World Of Bees, is aided by a call and response lyric by Yuko Kuono. The song does its best to try and drown in incoherence and at numerous points all but collapses into (little more than) random muted pluckings. It showcases just how far Blackman has come from his previous solo work – even more laconic than Ed Kuepper at his somnambulistic best – as Riot Guy, and his part in Perth group Sulk (Nick Drake with a fe/male dynamic and some sunburnt cello). These tunes are all pretty, yet lurk at the margins of acceptable melody with those shiftless, searching vocals. And as such, they will stay with you a lot longer. Life insurance.

Released on Blackman’s own Chapter Music label, ...In Japan amounts to a diary of sorts. Living in Japan for over a year gave him new insight into melody, yes, how could it not, and culture. It’s the sound of someone archiving themselves. As such it can get a bit insular at times. Perhaps rightly so. Perhaps there was no choice as this EP is comprised five ‘studio tracks’ (a generous, industry term if ever there were one for seven friends standing round one mic on one lone afternoon) and three live tracks. A grab bag of no second chances. How it works is baffling. And it surprises me again and again when I hear it. The fucking thing works a treat.