Sweet Billy Pilgrim: Crown and Treaty – review

After a surprise 2009 Mercury prize nomination for their second album, Twice Born Men , Sweet Billy Pilgrim frontman Tim Elsenburg gave up being an odd-job man to focus on his band full-time. That move has paid off handsomely, as Crown and Treaty is at times wonderful, particularly on " Blue Sky Falls ", " Joyful Reunion " and " Brugada ". By parts atmospheric, experimental and dramatic, it finds a happy midpoint between the chamber pop sensibilities of Rufus Wainwright, Radiohead's ingenious arrangements and Elbow's epic crescendos, the addition of a vocal foil in Jana Carpenter adding extra hues to Elsenburg's palette. Roll on their next Mercury nomination.