Two years ago, when LCD Soundsystem drummer Pat Mahoney released his debut album as Museum of Love, I was struck by the beauty of his singing voice, wondering how such a secret weapon had not been deployed on an LCD album previously. A similar feeling arose when Animal Collective began to test out the material in advance of 2012's Centipede Hz—especially when Josh “Deakin” Dibb took to the mic for his first song in the band, “Wide Eyed.” Perhaps he hadn’t quite settled into his voice at that early stage, but it brought to mind the likes of John Cale, folky and earnest and exuberant. And while Deakin did not contribute to February's Painting With, he took a great step forward with his first solo album this month.

It’s a record not without controversy, creative blocks, and self-imposed hardships. Like most artists finding both themselves and their footing, one suspects that Dibb was getting in his own way. “Golden Chords,” though, is disarming in its honesty and beauty, his voice finally heard away from his more famous band. While the backdrop sounds like field recordings from his travels in Africa from many years back, there’s an intimacy here that’s immediate. Dibb seems to be looking at his own reflection: “You’re scattered ever lonely buddy but so full love/ Please stop repeating your terror you choose what you see/ It’s always 'what if?' and 'why not?'/ Man you gotta just be.” It could easily be the voice of anyone looking at themselves and seeing their blemishes. But rather than again beating oneself up over unfulfilled promises, “Golden Chords” simply asks that we persevere through a distorted sense of self towards a glimmer of clarity.