Rex Orange County - Apricot Princess [Orange]

Rex Orange County's Apricot Princess comes on orange vinyl, a fitting shade for a record this sunny and openly lovestruck.

Alex O'Connor was still a teenager from Surrey when he started releasing music as Rex Orange County, and this second album, self-released in 2017, captured the sound that won him a devoted following and caught the ear of Tyler, the Creator, who featured him on Flower Boy that same year. Written largely about falling in love, it is bedroom pop with big ambitions, full of jazzy chords, brass flourishes and confessional lyrics delivered with disarming honesty, and the homemade edges are part of the charm.

The title track opens in a rush of affection, and Television / So Far So Good stitches two ideas into one wonderfully lopsided suite. Sycamore Girl leans fully into swooning romance, while Never Enough turns the lens inward and gets more introspective.

O'Connor's voice is unpolished in the best way, cracking and soaring as the songs demand, and the arrangements keep surprising you with horns, playful detours and sudden shifts in tempo.

Before the bigger stages and major-label records, this is where his sound truly came into focus, and it still feels like a love letter written in real time.