Charlotte Hatherley’s new album, The Deep Blue, arrived at pretty much the perfect moment: on the cusp of spring and warm weather. Of course, then we had the big cold snap and snow; such is the nature of spring in Ontario. But where the punk-pop attack of Grey Will Fade worked so wonderfully as a summer album, The Deep Blue’s more layered, less overtly poppy approach seems better suited to May than July.

Perhaps it’s a matter of geography; Grey Will Fade was recorded in L.A., a side product of Ash’s decision to record Meltdown in California. The Deep Blue, by contrast, was largely recorded in Italy, a much more sublime experience than the Sunset Strip. And so it goes with the album, which trades much more in atmospherics this time around. So while there’s no frenetic, radio-friendly singles like “Bastardo” or “Kim Wilde,” they’re hardly missed alongside more relaxed fare like “Be Thankful,” “Wounded Sky” and penultimate track “It Isn’t Over.”

The question of what albums you’d take with you if you were stranded on a deserted island is a clichéd one, but sure enough that’s what comes to mind with The Deep Blue—not so much that it’s an essential album, though it is very good, but that the songs seem to so perfectly evoke the sensation of relaxing on a subtropical island in the South Pacific. So maybe not an album to take with you to a deserted island, but rather the album you put on if you want to take a deserted island with you wherever you go.