Perhaps following the lead of mod father Paul Weller, Tom Hingley, the onetime singer of Manchester’s baggy-scene giants Inspiral Carpets, has gone all rustic with his solo debut. The album features only Hingley’s voice and acoustic guitar (with no overdubs), a far cry from the cascading, retro-organ grooves of Inspiral Carpets. After being relatively out of sight after the dissolution of his former band in the mid-’90s, Hingley re-emerges here as an even finer singer than before. Thematically, the album deals with typical man-woman, love/loss fare. (Undoubtedly linked to the fact that Hingley is now a divorced father in his mid-thirties.) Nevertheless, this is a mature and solid effort, and if fans of old have a hard time making the leap with Hingley into this starker format, they can always check out his group the Lovers. – Erik Hage