Orangefarm: Inheritance (Failsafe Records/digital outlets)

Although not widely known beyond the capital, Nigel Mitchell's Orangefarm have been around the city for 20 years and now their melodic pop-rock in the lineage of Sneaky Feelings, early Straitjacket Fits and Bike finds fruition on this 13-song debut album.

This is often guile-free, observational pop (Conversation with my Grandmother which, delightfully, is about exactly that) and vernacular folk-pop: “We walked past the library and she smiled and said 'Hello' and I said 'Hello' to the ground” on the self-effacing Simple.

It is also proudly parochial: “Today I have been sitting on my hands waiting for you to come back to Christchurch,” on the charming These Things Don't Concern Me with its conversational-cum-soliloquy lyrics.

There's comforting recognition in these idiomatic songs with drummer Caroline Easther (Chills, Verlaines, Lets Planet) sharing drum duties with Karen Apperley in the band's evolving membership. Producer/guitarist/Failsafe Records founder Rob Mayes is also alongside returning Orangefarm members.

Here's something of Andrew Brough's engagingly melodic, strum'n'jangle (You Should Have Said); the brooding throb of the Clean-like Old Heart with its expansive guitar solo, Pressure is perhaps perilously close to the Chills (but with wah-wah guitar) and the appealingly gentle sound of the winsome Settle in Your Eyes.

There are also intelligent details: the disturbing thoughts of Dying Man structurally pushing towards the Eighties art-pop of Auckland's Unsung label (Avant Garage, Big Sideways); Open heading to psychedelic skies; Listen and the title track are quiet and seductive mood pieces.

If Jazmine Mary invite you into private rooms, Orangefarm – at the intersection of pop, folk and restrained rock – lead you to sometimes familiar but interesting pastures.

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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here. However with Failsafe Records' typical attention to detail and packaging, the CD edition comes in a double gatefold cover with a 12 page booklet of images and lyrics which you can order direct from Failsafe here