Psychedelic folk-pop album for fans of M Ward, Sufjan Stevens, Cass McCombs

For most, it takes a lot of effort to pull off an impression of effortlessness. Somehow you get the feeling this isn't the case with Aaron Stout. 'Queens Live In Caskets' is the Indiana-born, Brooklyn-based folk-rock artist's debut album, and it brims with the easy, understated confidence of someone who knows there isn't anything else he could or should be doing. Aaron spent a couple of years writing and learning to record his music in his spare time, and the result is this intimate, homespun collection.

'Queens Live In Caskets' is, among but perhaps above other things, a storytelling album, full of beguiling tales of his life and travels and the curious people he has met along the way, as well as his dreams for his future as an artist and a man.

There's something completely natural and unforced about 'Queens Live In Caskets', a homemade grace that brings the songs closer to you. Soft organics mesh and clash with found sounds, the wind, distant clanking, a sound like bubbles inside a boiling kettle, a dog barking. The instrumentation may be bare-boned and sparse, but Stout's arrangements make the most of every sound.

For fans of M Ward, Sufjan Stevens, Cass McCombs, Papa M