London-based Snowpoet offer a profound antidote to our tumultuous zeitgeist with their latest album Heartstrings, delivering emotional depth through elegant simplicity.

From the understated refinement of ‘(interlude)’ to the restrained power of ‘Skin’, the album creates a gentle yet potent sanctuary of sound, offering – in the gentlest way imaginable – an artistic counterbalance to all of the ugliness currently at play in the world. ‘New Tree 109A’ explores grief with moving clarity, as Lauren Kinsella’s pristine vocals float above delicate piano chords to evoke the enormity of loss (“your gentle smile, your warm embrace, your beautiful mind, this is your resting place”).

The striking solo piano piece ‘forest_bathing’ seems to serve as a tender homage to Debussy, while the standout ‘Our World’ deftly layers beats that sound like something J Dilla might have cooked up on his beloved MPC 3000, call-and-response synth lines, a bass so deep it’s on the verge of human audibility, and Kinsella’s crystalline voice, all building to a lush, reverb-soaked coda. Heart-warming, uplifting and touching in equal measure.