Over the course of his solo career, has used his breezy, genre-defying style to express a wide variety of situations and emotions. On , he created beguiling mirages; on , he delivered post-apocalyptic lounge with brilliant irony. Like so many other artists during the COVID-19 global pandemic, took inspiration from those difficult times, and on , he uses the nostalgic and escapist aspects of his sound to craft a musical sanctuary. It's no coincidence that his fourth album offers some of his sweetest and most immediate songs. Driven by a summery guiro and flirty backing vocals by 's , the record's shimmying title track is a standout that finds comparing quarantine life to Kamishibai ("paper play"), a type of Japanese street theater popular in the 1930s and '40s. The blurriness of pandemic life is a particularly apt subject for , since time feels almost irrelevant to the way his music drifts along at its own pace (six years separated this album and its predecessor, ) and borrows so much from different styles and eras. His deep love of sounds from the '70s continues with "Floating Weeds"' cowbell-punctuated strut and the bubbling disco whimsy of "One Day," but he reaches farther back on "You Have Time But I Don't," which bears the influence of '50s surf that he introduced on and reaffirms that he can add just about any sunny-sounding influence into his music and make it his own. At the time of 's release, described it as his pop album, but true to form, he delivers the unexpected. Where his previous work often expanded on a single mood, this record runs the emotional gamut, spanning the wryly wobbly trombone and tinny drum machine of "That Was Illegal" to the dubby sophistication of "The Thickness of Love." Once again, 's sincerest-sounding songs, such as "Star" and "The Whereabouts of Romance," are among the most winning on first listen, but it's impressive that he covers so much territory without sacrificing the light touch that's made his solo career exceptional. As eclectic as it is, song for song is one of 's strongest albums, and the pleasure his music offers is especially welcome this time around. ~ Heather Phares