You want to know the way to listen to this album? Open road, windows down, volume up. It’s just a shame the old Capri shuddered to a halt decades ago. It was about the same vintage as the tunes and bands that inspired “Before Dark Clouds”. It’s released on the Jigsaw label, which specialises in recording to analogue tape as the first step in the production process and I have to admit the process works spectacularly well for Austin Gold. And now you’re going to ask, quite rightly, what type of music this is.

Well, it’s the kind of music that I heard a lot of in my teenage years. I’ll name the influences, you can work out my age. The influences that immediately spring to mind are bands that combined stunning rock guitar players with slightly more soulful Hammond players like Jon Lord and Vincent Crane. Combine that with classic rock vocal stylings hinting at Paul Rodgers and David Coverdale, riffs-a-plenty, strong melodies and the occasional flurry of twin lead guitar and you’ve pretty much got it covered. And let’s not forget the occasional power ballad to for a bit of contrast.

The album’s opener is a statement of intent, with a killer guitar riff, subtle hints of Hammond and a huge seventies rock vocal. The chorus is massive, but the real highlight is the middle sixteen which launches a guitar solo contrasted with Hammond swirls and flurries; it stands up on its own, but it evokes the mood of seventies rock perfectly.

All the bases are covered; “The Reason” is funky and energetic, the title song hints at the melody and dynamics of Boston, “Home Ain’t Home” suggests Dave Gilmour’s guitar tone and “See the Light” could be early eighties American AOR (remember that term kids) by the likes of Journey or Foreigner. I’m not suggesting that “Before Dark Clouds” is derivative; the band picks out various elements, combinations of instruments, tones, melodies and rhythms that hark back to that era in the early to mid-seventies when all sorts of styles were melding and meshing and cross-pollinating to create new genres.

Bottom line: this album is beautifully played and constructed and it’s a whole lot of fun.

“Before Dark Clouds” is out now on Jigsaw.