It's almost that time of year, when columns such as this become lists.

Best movies, best albums, top 10 Christmas presents, exciting gigs coming up, New Year resolutions; the lists go on and on; ways for journalists (and the rest of us) to fill a few column inches without leaving the house.

Fair enough too. Everyone deserves a break. While you prepare to mix the Christmas egg-nog next week, spare a thought for the hard-working team behind the scenes at The Weekend Sun, chained in the office for the duration with only minimal supplies of mince pies pushed through the letterbox at irregular intervals to sustain them.

But, while waiting for list-mania to overwhelm us, I'm still playing catch-up. Despite reviewing a pile of albums and releases that have recently been unleashed locally, I've been sitting on one since the end of October.

Shameful really, as it's from one of my absolutely favourite local singer-songwriters. What with the delay, this will be the last new release reviewed for 2015. It's also one of the best.

I've written about Matt Bodman before, most recently in mid-2013 when, along with his band Valentine Grind, he released a short and incredibly impressive album ‘Hallelujah Circus' on the digital platform bandcamp.com

It was a striking recording, utilising a host of players, from the basic band to various horns and strings, and ranging from an ambitious four-song concept cycle to what became my favourite little pop song of that year ‘Polar Magnets'.

This time round he's chosen to pretty much do it all himself. The four-track EP ‘Blim' now at bandcamp, is credited to just Bodman.

Jason Crawford plays drums on all tracks and ‘Fanny' Beckett bass guitar on two. Opener ‘Alice (When She Left Home)' also features Alexander Wildwood on ‘Dubious Electric Guitar' but other than that it's all Matt – organ, piano, guitar, bass, percussion and, of course, vocals.

And it's a bit of a departure for Matt: 'My previous two albums focused heavily on compositional techniques and timbres,” he says. '‘Blim' is inspired by the pop songwriting genius of New Zealand bands such as Tom Lark, Anthonie Tonnon, and Lawrence Arabia and is light in every aspect, with stream-of-consciousness song-writing coated in my very best attempt at replicating Phil Spector's ‘Wall of Sound' production style'.”

There are four tracks; and all of them certainly channel that glorious retro explosion of sound. One of them is a trippy instrumental; ‘There be Volcanoes, Lad!', which sits somewhere between Spector and Brian Eno with possibly a touch of Joe Meek's experimentation thrown in.

Elsewhere there are snatches of the familiar – a little Dion-style yelp here, a Beach Boys' harmony there, nods to The Beatles – in a production that manages to seamlessly combine the old and the new.

‘Alice (When She Left Home)' has that Beatles thing going on – it could almost be a slinkier upbeat take on ‘She's Leaving Home' – and can it be a complete coincidence that the titles of the other two songs are ‘Darling' (Beatlesy) and ‘Smile' (Beach Boys)?
‘Smile' does indeed boast the imprint of that band in the arrangement but adds crunchy guitar and playful interjections, making it both weirder and tougher than the offerings of Brian and the gang.

Hey, what I'm saying is I really like this and I'd strongly recommend everyone listen to it. You can do that for free at https://mattbodmanandthevalentinegrind.bandcamp.com/album/blim

Matt's not playing live much at the moment. He's busy being a Dad and teaching at Otumoetai College – but already has plans for next year. 'The band is already working on the next full-length album,” he says. 'Which will be a selection of Burt Bacharach songs arranged and recorded our own way.” Can't wait.

And a quick plug before I go. Local singer/songwriter Derek Toner's band Tuner is playing a Christmas show at Drivers Bar this Saturday, December 19. Free entry, with special guests The Native Pomms. It's been a busy year for him, especially with his single ‘Roll Another One', which he launched with shows both here and in Ireland. His gigs are always a bunch of fun.