It was never going to be easy for the Glasgow-based chamber-pop band Modern Studies to follow their mesmerising debut album, 2016’s Swell To Great. However, with their new album, Welcome Strangers, the band has delivered a stunning set of beautifully-crafted songs, which reflect the considerable individual and collective talents, versatility and alchemy of this unique group of musicians. The delightfully creaking Victorian harmonium which was central to the sound on the first album takes a back seat here, as the song arrangements become ever more intricate, expansive and absorbing, featuring exhilarating flourishes of strings and brass and other subtle splashes of musical colour. Although remaining deliciously unconventional in structure, the new songs are perhaps more fully-formed than before, revealing more textures and layers with repeated plays.