Euros Childs: The Miracle Inn

As the frontman of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Euros Childs mashed up psychedelia, bubblegum, glam, and verdant hillside folk, though as the band matured, the wilder element fell away, leaving mainly cooing acoustic love ballads of increasing beauty and sobriety. Childs' third solo album, The Miracle Inn, returns to that latter-day Gorky's style, albeit with more playful glee. The album is well-stocked with music for sunny afternoons and lakeside picnics, like "Over You" and "Ali Day," in which Childs' high voice coos sweetly over barreling piano and soft percussion. But then there's the title track: a 15-minute prog-folk song-suite that reportedly took two years to write and nine days to record, and still sounds wonderfully natural, like a long swim across a still lake.