Empires rise and fall. John Blek releases records. Arriving complete with a cheeky album sleeve of Blek as a jocular-but-defiant gosson, Cheer Up marks nine albums in a decade. That’s a blistering pace, especially when you consider Blek rarely leaves the road.

Following his Catharsis Project – a four-album exploration of the sea, earth, embers and air – last year’s Until The Rivers Run Dry marked a fresh creative turn, moving from pure folk into poppier territory. That direction is wonderfully expanded-upon here, with Dutch harmony group Woolf and the Dresden-based Broken Strings providing much of the added bolster.

Lo-fi slacker opener ‘Holy Shit’, with its fatalistic refrain (“I’m living for the sake of dying”) boasts an unruffled vibe, which eases you into the hazy soft-rock of second single ‘Country Mile’. ‘Easy Now’ is a tender message from the mature Blek to his teenage self.

Elsewhere, ‘Hold Your Tongue’ is a fine slice of baroque pop; ‘Orange Warning’ leans beyond Americana into alt-country; and ‘Woman’ closes out the record on a heady crest of psychedelic folk.

8/10