The first thing that occurs to you about the voice of Things in Herds is that when it isn’t singing, its owner probably spends a lot of time apologising to people. The sort of apologising you do when you are trying to get past someone before your bus whizzes past the next stop, or the sort of apologising you do when someone bumps into you in the street. Such is the uniquely English sort of reticence that colours the third album of songs by the Brighton singer-songwriter Pete Lush.

Whatever it is that Lush chooses to derive any sense of catharsis from, then, it certainly isn’t his music – that would be far too embarrassing. In this respect, there is no avoiding an obvious if overused comparison. Nick Drake was another singer who sang in high tones of quiet, plummy restraint. And as with Drake, what keeps you returning to Nothing is Lost is a sense of what these songs hint at but could never really bear to revel in.

Beneath the exquisite guitar picking of You Know, the plink of a seemingly far-away piano illuminates the sonic firmament just enough for you to apprehend the enormity of the emotions that prompted it. On Lush’s previous album, Everything Has To End Somewhere, separation seemed to inspire a handful of quietly breathtaking moments. If most of this set is anything to go by, you can hardly see the bridleway of true love for what the horses have left on it.

Delivered with cut-glass precision, the male and female harmonies of Once Were yield an opening moment of lip-quivering beauty. Nothing is Lost boasts one of those sweet, slight choruses that, were it sung a shade more assertively by a Paolo Nutini type, would become a monster hit. But, of course, if a Paolo Nutini type sang it, it wouldn’t glow with the heartrendingly exquisite intimacy that makes a Things in Herds album so cherishable. It is, to be crude about it, a cycle of misfortune which can only be broken if you buy this wonderful record.

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of the Decade
• 70 facts you didn't know about Marvel
• The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010