The opening notes of The Silver Seas’ album make one pine for James Taylor or Loggins and Messina. And they just want to sing their songs, according to the cheery, happy and oh so sweet “The Country Life”. Evoking the likes of ‘70s soft rock bands like Bread, The Silver Seas make these tunes work brilliantly with the relaxing, soothing title track that has a touch of Americana to boot. The first real highlight though is the ambling “Imaginary Girl”, sounding like the best song Jeff Tweedy never recorded. The shortness of the songs is another asset, as they rarely touch three minutes, preferring to stick to a Beatles-like length as is the case with the airy “Ms. November” (and perhaps the perfect chaser to The National’s “Mr. November”). Although some might consider the Dylan-ish “Catch Yer Own Train” iffy, The Silver Seas deliver it with care and craftiness. One of the oddities with this album is how relaxing it goes near the homestretch, especially with “We’ll Go Walking” that could be mistaken for Ron Sexsmith. The same could be said for the piano-led “Dream of Love”.

• Multiple songs MySpace