Wounded Electric Youth is a bold move for Adam Klein. Coming off the back of a more traditional approach to making music, his third album could so easily have alienated his more rootsy following and left him adrift in the choppy waters of the sell out. The fact he went ahead and made it anyway is a credit to him and, thanks in no small part to producer/multi instrumentalist AJ Adams the result is one of the finest albums of the year.This is a treasure trove of song writing from opening track Drifter where wispy backing vocals really do drift above the intertwining riffs of guitar and organ. Exquisite use of effects never quite cross the line into over indulgence as Klein conjures scenarios of daydreaming and skinny dipping in the sunny south. And almost as an afterthought, the lap steel and ukulele strike you as perfect accompaniments to this new, lusher direction to his sound. Klein displays a sense of subtlety rare in the ego driven world of the modern music scene. This is only partly due to the fact he is master of his own material. He knows exactly what's needed where, when and in what quantity (another nod here to Adams). A good example is Griffin's Song. The effect of simple heartfelt lyrics and tasteful brass is enhanced tenfold when the lead guitar, sax and organ climax before coming slowly in to land right on cue, all masterfully handled. Brass is used to great effect to give just a tiny hint of jazz/blues to proceedings . Any less and it wouldn't provide this effect. Any more and and it would be out of place. And yet there is no sense of it being overly contrived. It's all so natural, as is David Blackman's fiddle on next track Wayward Son which has its roots in country music the way country music was meant to sound. The team of musicians Klein has assembled are all of the very highest calibre. The art of storytelling which was so prominent in Klein's last album “Western Tales and Trails” is again present here and comes to the fore in “Of Pirates and Vagabonds”, while the imagery and colour portrayed throughout the album is a delight. “12th and Porter” brings the album to a close as if at the end of a long, but wholesome journey, and leaves an impression that if musical style and direction is any indication of an artists creative perspective then Adam Klein was in a good place when this record was conceived. Even the melancholy numbers display wry undercurrents of hope and Klein is adept at extracting positive energy from his downbeat side. Classy is the word that springs to mind when listening to Wounded Electric Youth. It is a confident and assured step forward for Klein, not that going sideways would have, in his case, been a bad thing.