Many of you may recognise Tyler Ramsey from his other job as guitarist with Band of Horses, what some of you might not know is that he has his own solo career on the side. A career that started before he joined the band, with his self titled debut in 2004. He followed that up in 2008 with the quietly beautiful A Long Dream About Swimming Across The Sea. Now he is set to release his third album The Valley Wind after an intense recording effort earlier in the year. The product of which is an album that is both nuanced and intelligent.

The record opens strongly enough with a wonderful short acoustic introduction highlighting Ramsey’s skill on the guitar. What follows are perhaps the two strongest tracks on the album, the Springsteen-esque title track “The Valley Wind” and the beautiful "1000 Black Birds" which features some delightful fingerpicking and Ramsey’s warm and textured vocal.

Ramsey’s vocal is an undoubted highlight of the record. It is at times plaintive and emotional whilst at other times it is rich and comforting. Whilst at times on his previous record I found the vocal a times a little too polished, here there is the right balance between consistency and rawness that perfectly suits the themes he is singing about.

Another highlight of The Valley Wind is the instrumentation. Throughout the record it does just enough, never threatening to overpower Ramsey’s vocal. It’s also reasonably sparse, throwing the listeners attention towards the vocal performance and Ramsey’s lyrics, which are both thoughtful and nuanced.

At a brief 35 minutes the album is over before you know it. I for one was left wanting to hear more. But then better to leave them wanting more, than wishing you’d stopped two or three songs earlier.

The Valley Wind is a consistent and cohesive record featuring a fantastic vocal performance from Ramsey. With this his third record Ramsey has surpassed his previous efforts and created his best work to date. Fans of his other solo work will not be disappointed; whilst fans his other work with Band of Horses would be daft not to give this spin.

Review Score: 8.5/10