The fresh-faced country-rock six-piece Goldheart Assembly have been relentlessly compared to Fleet Foxes. But a longer perspective draws comparisons to more audacious, original Crowded House and The Hollies — there's a touch of the former's meticulous craft and the latter's winsome jangle in Wolves and Thieves's pastoral country-rock.

The band recorded most of this burnished debut at Forncett Industrial Steam museum in Norfolk, England, where they were encouraged to draw on the venerable machinery's rumble and rhythm. "Jesus Wheel" opens with the clunking of an antique engine, followed by James Dale's keening vocal, bearing what sounds like a hard-earned life lesson: "It's hard for you to win anything on the Jesus wheel." Then, the song swings through a remarkable procession of sounds, from light acoustic interludes to crescendos of piano and synthesiser growls; next comes a chaotic breakdown of noise, and finally a broken-down conclusion as the machine lurches to a halt.

As that conclusion implies, the Gold Heart Assembly show a perverse knack for picking apart their well-crafted songs. "So Long St. Christopher" moves from sweetness to a maelstrom of screams, while "Reminder" degenerates into massed mad cackling. Yet their fundamental approach is that of an unusually versatile country rock band,… read more »