It’s strange how well Good Morning Midnight‘s new album flows. The songs themselves are quite different, ranging from somber folk to indie-pop to raucous 70’s style AM radio tunes. The influence of bands like Wilco and songwriters like Elliot Smith are heard pretty easily throughout, and GMM’s Charlie Cacciatore captures their spirit with ease.

Produced and engineered by friend of the site Dana Telsrow and Luke Tweedy at Flat Black Studios in Iowa City, Basket Of Flowers is a polished, easy listen that lets the work speak for itself. No need for bells and whistles when you have quality songwriting and musical ability.

The first song I heard from the album was “Permanently Red,” a wordy tune with a lot going on sonically on which you can chew. It’s available over on GMM’s bandcamp page as the lead single off Basket Of Flowers, but don’t think for one second that you’re going to get 11 more songs just like it. I’m particularly enthralled with the closing track, “UNIVERSE or Donald J. Trump Vs. The Winchester Boys Choir.” It’s a ten minute epic, not unlike “Let’s Not Shit Ourselves” on the Bright Eyes album Lifted. Even without the Trump stuff, this is a really great song.

“Loneliness knows no limits at all. Expands like the universe. Demands like a black hole.” There’s a bizarre simplicity to this, but the way it’s sung makes it feel like a new idea I’m hearing for the first time. And that’s true of much of Basket Of Flowers. There’s a lot of sounds that I’ve heard before, but never like this. Delivered in a fusion of Radiohead and Neutral Milk Hotel. It’s really a great listen.

The album isn’t officially out until July 21st, but if you catch Good Morning Midnight at a show, you can get a physical copy. He’ll be in Chicago this Saturday, June 3rd, at Roach Manor (Western and 19th).