There are sonic touchstones within Bill Ryder-Jones’s third solo record: the melodic slacker rock of Pavement, Bandwagonesque-era Teenage Fanclub, the Velvet Underground’s more harmonious confections. The licks of the ex-Coral guitarist (and touring Arctic Monkey) contain more than a hint of Alex Chilton’s outstandingly askew way with the electric six-string too.

West Kirby County Primary, though, is equally as informed by the landmarks of the creator’s life and times as his record collection. Besides the album title – where Ryder-Jones was schooled – there’s the warmly stoned Two to Birkenhead and the terrifically tousled Catharine & Huskisson, the latter a crossroads in Liverpool. Consider too the facts Ryder-Jones sings in a proudly Scouse accent and created this album in his childhood home and it’s impossible to overestimate the power of geography in sculpting this messily miraculous record. Close your eyes and you can almost smell the Irish Sea.

This is an album which pulses with life. There are hushed spells, eruptions of abrasive noise and a refreshing emphasis on feel rather than technique, while the icing on the woozily lustrous cake is Ryder-Jones’s voice, which rarely rises above conversational volume.

A humble epic, all told.