Head east out of Liverpool City Centre and you will come to a suburb called ‘Tuebrook’. The title of John Jenkins’ new album is partly inspired by this place, its artwork a two-up, two-down, red-brick home on one of its streets, familiar to anyone with a connection to this part of the North West. It is where the singer-songwriter grew up, making this a semi-autobiographical record. Containing snapshots of the people and places that he remembers, he also combines fictitious elements nevertheless inspired by this location. All told in a very stripped back style, his songs become intimate stories that are keenly felt. You don’t have to have been to Tuebrook to experience it for yourself.

It is the incidental details in the lyrics that make ‘Tuebrook’ such an interesting listen. Whether the “Road to Nowhere” highway that had such a devastating impact on local places, or the “dirty faces, sore knees…, scrubbing our hands in margarine” of childhood shenanigans, both ‘Shadows’ and ‘Christopher Roberts’ evoke situations and circumstances that are specific, but speak to something more universal. The former really does convey something of its first word, “discontented”, pushing it to the verge of despair. The only thing that stops it, and the album, from falling into an abyss is the soft, wispy vocal of Jenkins himself. There is a ray of hope always in his delivery; understated but present at all times. It contributes to a lovely reworking of ‘Wayfaring Stranger’, the lines changed absolutely while the tune remains to create ‘Idaho’. It is the most Country-sounding track on the album but doesn’t feel out of place despite its geographical difference.

The rest of the album is mostly steeped in Americana, though evocative of Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott’s folk-pop, but without the heavy production. Most of the time it is just Jenkins and his guitar, who will perhaps pick up the tempo now and again (‘Passing Time’) but mainly sails across calm waters. The subject matter may cause a ripple, like the piercing final verse on ‘43 & Counting’ – “And I feel so old / Silence has spread through this house and my soul / Separated like a leaf from its tree”. It doesn’t last though, as the light jazz on ‘Child’s Sense of Wonder’ for example, brings a playfulness that, on this occasion, is also ground in recognition. Jenkins’ songs always feel close to home, achieved most readily through a refusal to unfold his tunes into heavy pop production. Add in a wistful voice full of reflection, and they become as inviting as those of Suzanne Vega. None more so than ‘Lost in the Storm…’.

The final track, ‘Mr Ford’s Hardware Store’, truly grounds the listener in a reminiscence of a bygone age. Sung by children to give it that extra taste of memory, it fits perfectly with the loose concept of this album, bringing to life an area still fondly held by John Jenkins. Tuebrook may not be well-known beyond its Liverpool locality but it is honoured rather beautifully here by one of its most musically-talented proteges.