SUPERNOVA takes time to settle, not least because producer Dan Auerbach, of the Black Keys, pushes the crooning Seventies-style singer-songwriter in new directions.

Opening track Lavender is a floaty, psychedelic number on which Lamontagne abandons his usual melancholy to sound almost unrecognisable beneath hand claps, organ swirls and multi-track vocals. It’s a good trick, once your surprise is overcome.

Second track Airwaves is a catchy, happy delight, which opens with the mysterious lyric: “Where you goin’ Rusty James?” Pick Up a Gun and Ojai are also rewarding, although the album really scores with the arrival of track ten, Drive-In Movies, a delightful mixture of beardy rumbling from Lamontagne and 1960s styling of Auerback’s production.

This strange alliance is more rewarding than might be supposed. All of this moves matters on from 2010’s the slow-burning, husky balladry of God Willin’ & The Creek Don’t Rise – a sound which has always worked well for Lamontagne, but sometimes taking a new road can be rewarding.