• 13h53

Those of us who like well-crafted, slightly countrified, mellow folks tunes, but have no patience for guitar-wielding dudes with no greater griefs to sing about than their hot ex-girlfriends, will find a friend indeed in Friend of all the World, aka Montrealers Rob Cole, Kenton Mail and Charles-Louis Roseau.

Cole’s self-produced debut, Up These Branches, is the work of a singer-songwriter who likes music more than the sound of his own voice, which is saying something, since his restrained vocals ground the album’s nine tracks. Percussion, banjo, and other strings are layered into rich arrangements that conjure melancholy without melodrama. If bluegrass is porch-sitting music, this must be its urban cousin.