Aoife Nessa Frances wrote her second album in the Irish costal countryside, trying to reconnect to family and nature after a failed relationship and listening to Jim Sullivan’s lost 1969 LP, U.F.O., on repeat. A similar psychedelic fog drifts around Protector as does 2020’s Land Of No Junction, but this album feels more rooted on solid ground, the clouds parting to reveal something earthier and more sturdy. Opener “Way To Say Goodbye” details the tentative beginnings of a new chapter over a sumptuous wave of piano, brass and tremolo guitar, and each subsequent song opens a door onto a small world of reflection and beauty as Frances’ Nico-like voice mesmerizes and restores.