Nick Drake - Bryter Layter

Bryter Layter is Nick Drake at his most luminous, a 1971 album where hushed guitar songs are dressed in strings, brass and late-night jazz colour.

His second record was meant to be the one that reached a wider audience. Producer Joe Boyd surrounded Drake's intricate fingerpicking with members of Fairport Convention, Robert Kirby's elegant arrangements and a few inspired guests, aiming for something brighter and more sociable than his debut. It sold poorly at the time, and the disappointment shaped what came next, yet its reputation has only grown in the decades since.

Richard Thompson's electric guitar weaves through the breezy "Hazey Jane II," while John Cale adds viola and harpsichord to "Fly" and builds the hymn-like glow of "Northern Sky" with celeste, piano and organ. "At The Chime Of A City Clock" captures big-city loneliness, a saxophone drifting through the arrangement like streetlight through fog.

Three instrumentals frame the album like scene changes in a film, giving the songs room to breathe and the whole record a gentle, cinematic flow that rewards listening from start to finish.

Heard on vinyl, the warmth of the recording feels close enough to touch. It remains a quiet cornerstone of English folk-rock and a gentle, endlessly replayable listen for late evenings.