His previous album was a rip roaring affair that was probably the ultimate expression of what Seth is all about live; shock and awe with fiddle and drum. The songs on Hearts And Minds have taken a break from that race and are more rounded affairs that concentrate as much on the story as the bombast.

Songs such as Spinning Days and Stepping Over You take their time to grow and swell, full room is given to fiddle, guitar and Kirkpatrick's banjo which are mostly in the foreground. As a producer, Blake is a master of the space that the sound inhabits, the full stereo space is used which gives the album an orchestral feel. Changes is a superb example of this, the band's familiar instruments all take on new shapes in the arrangement. Blake is also renowned for really pushing the aural envelope, yet there is no wild experimentation here, just a sensitive ear for the instruments and voice.

In this world of DIY recording straight to a laptop the real art of recording is often lost, an engineer that knows just what mic to use and where to place it to get the sound the musician and producer wants is as much of an artist as the musicians. The quality of the sound captured is wonderful, no real surprise when you consider that Tchad's Grammy Award was for 'Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical', for his work on Suzanne Vega's Beauty and Crime. Just listen to the double bass on The Circle Grows as an example.

Benji Kirkpatrick is a musical force of nature, he seems a natural partner for Seth's exuberance, they hit off each other throughout the album and it's envigorated the Lakeman trademark indie-folk sound. It's a fresh new record for Lakeman in which the arrangements shine out.

The lasting note is the ease with which Lakeman writes songs, he said in a recent interview with us that songwriting is a hobby, he's always at it and that he had around twenty songs ready for this album. Lets hope he continues in this vein.

Coming in July - a full week of video content that we recently filmed with Seth about the new album and his career, with a full track by track description of the album by Seth, plus solo acoustic performances and a very special competition (and we mean special...)