There are difficult journeys, difficult gestations, and difficult births. With his wondrous fifth album Fool's Spring – a sparkling, self-produced collection that runs the gamut from “sad ABBA” to yacht rock – Luke Sital-Singh has experienced all three.

There was the transatlantic life-change that he and his artist wife embarked on five years ago, leaving Bristol for Los Angeles. An idyllic time in LA was marked by highs: the quick-fire creation of his last album, Dressing Like a Stranger, recorded with producer and good pal Dan Croll; road-trips into the heart of the California dream; an embrace of the outdoor life (always easier in perpetual sunshine). And it was punctured by lows: the pandemic; the ensuing visa difficulties that impeded traveling home to see friends and family; the merciless expense of American healthcare.

The end-result: a return to the UK last spring, the couple’s baggage weighed down with mixed feelings about the end of their expat existence.

All of that, well, life stuff contributed to the lengthy creation of the 11-track Fool’s Spring.

“This record, more than any record I’ve made, just happened,” begins Sital-Singh, meaning: he was working solo, playing most of the instruments, bidden by only his personal deadlines and demands, with no scheduled sessions or studio bookings. “But that meant it took the longest to make."

That life stuff: it’s intimated in the meaning behind the album’s title. “Fool’s spring” is a short period of time at the end of winter when the temperature warms temporarily, making one believe spring is here, only for the winter weather to return again.

“The poetry of thinking a dark time is over, only for it to return,” expands Sital-Singh, “is something that resonates with the theme of the new album.”