(Chrysalis)
Like a more genteel and jaunty Laura Marling, the singer-songwriter’s exquisite voice and timeless simplicity make her fourth album a very reassuring companion

There is something remarkably peaceful and restorative about Nadia Reid’s fourth album; a feat that seems doubly impressive once you learn the singer-songwriter recorded it in the throes of morning sickness, her studio time punctuated by sofa naps and vomiting breaks. The end product shows absolutely no signs of struggle: in fact, this is the kind of unchallenging, beautiful music that seems capable of soothing many a malady.

Admittedly, the comforting nature of Enter Now Brightness is partly a result of its familiarity. There are a couple of forays into period-specific nostalgia: a soft wash of trip-hop on Hold It Up; gated drums and gentle electric guitar on Changed Unchained. But the bedrock is gently melismatic vocals and acoustic guitar in the folk-tinged singer-songwriter tradition (think of Reid as a more genteel and jaunty Laura Marling) and the simplicity of the sound gives Reid’s work a timeless quality.