Devon Williams has had quite a journey to reach the point of second solo album Euphoria. Starting out as a teenage guitarist in Epitaph-signed SoCal punk band Osker, Williams drifted away from youthful abandon and ended up gravitating towards lush pop arrangements, starting with a stint as guitarist for jubilant folk-pop quartet Lavender Diamond. His solo career continues to demonstrate his new allegiance to precision songcraft and irresistible melody, the sunny baroque arrangements of his native California mixed with a drizzly guitar jangle imported from the 80s UK indie scene.

From the outset of Euphoria, it’s clear that Williams has crafted an album that offers instant gratification. Although listeners with a low tolerance for twee might quickly find their jaws clenching and their hackles rising at the chiming guitar lines and Williams’ nasal vocal delivery, the winning opening pair of Brian Wilson-esque beauty ‘Revelations’ and first single ‘Your Sympathy’, with its appealingly offbeat chorus, stand a good chance of ensnaring pretty much everyone else. From there, the album offers a whistle-stop tour of the indie pop landscape, taking in the rich central bassline of ‘Tower of Thought’ (reminiscent of Twin Shadow, another songwriter enraptured by the 80s), the poised orchestration of open-hearted ballad ‘Slight Pain’ and a serious Suzanne Vega vibe in the form of the wistful, emotionally brittle ‘How Is There Always Room’.

There’s little new lyrical ground being paved here; Williams for the most part trades in the kind of romantic wranglings and emotional crises that have been well covered before. But that’s not to say that he doesn’t have a knack for an effective turn of phrase. “Shed your fear/ And I will share mine”, he implores on ‘Sufferer’, with a desperation that suggests more than one extended stay at the last chance saloon. The music is a similar story – there’s nothing remotely new to discover, but all those familiar chords are strummed with such conviction and expertise that you’ll find your toes tapping and your fingers clicking all over again. But while Williams’ passion and skill makes Euphoria a generous and effortlessly rewarding listen, the lack of challenge or discovery might make falling in love with it a little more difficult.