Justin Rutledge has put out a steady stream of critically acclaimed but somewhat under-noticed albums since his 2003 debut. Eighteen years on, Islands is – at just nine songs – a lean retrospective of stripped-back, acoustic versions, alongside two new tracks. Few artists possess Rutledge’s poetic lyrical flair and even fewer can boast a career of such a consistently high quality so, for the uninitiated, Islands could be the perfect stepping stone to the mainland of his back catalogue.