The latest album from James Blackshaw, Summoning Suns (Important Records), has the British fingerstyle wizard expanding his reach beyond the minimalistic guitar fractals that defined most of his preceding nine albums. Namely, he’s expanded to a fuller lineup of drums, piano, bass, violin, flute, and pedal steel with help from Simon Scott (of Slowdive) and Mori Wa Ikiteiru, as well as vocal and lyrical contributions from Annie Nilsson (yes, daughter of that Nilsson) and Kaoru Noda. This takes him into some more traditional folk and pop songwriting than ever before, but Blackshaw’s deft guitar continues to radiate from the center of it all.

Blackshaw’s vocals are everything you might expect based on his typically demure stage presence: soft and sweet, but sinisterly contrasted with morbid lyrics like “I throw confetti in the streets / She hangs herself with a sheet” on the otherwise sunny-sounding pop ripper “Confetti.” On the sixth track, the slower and more orchestral “Towa No Yume,” he even sings in Japanese with support from Noda. For those who might miss more classic Blackshaw, the album comes with his 2011 single “Holly” and B-side “Boo, Forever” tacked onto the end, both of which exemplify his virtuosic solo guitar, which is often spoken of as a stylistic successor to Fahey and Basho.