Lest the proceedings turn a bit too retro, Noir plunks plenty of skittering, shuffling electronic beats underneath it all, often sending the bright-eyed melodies hurtling into joyful orbits. And even when the songs manage to remain earthbound, they still tend to volley along with wild abandon. Listeners who found themselves in states of gleeful head-bobbing with Noir's initial outing - 2006's Tower of Love (My Dad Recordings/ Barsuk) will likely be twirling with even greater ecstasy upon hearing this one. As ravishing as the debut was, it still remained somewhat limited by its stop-and-start nature, its sense of fragmentation owing to its combination of several EPs within one full-length format. Jim Noir, ultimately, comes across as much more cohesive than its predecessor.

Fans of the Beta Band, the Bees, and Gruff Rhys (including much of the ever-broadening canon of his endlessly inventive main gig, the Super Furry Animals) will find considerable paisleyed joy in Noir's similarly loopy forays into playground-psychedelia. "What U Gonna Do," for example, is a stuttering scamp of electronic garage-pop including a chugging jazz-guitar rhythm and a few delirious organ runs worthy of a Joe Meek production. Meanwhile, Noir chases himself in circles with mesmerizing repetitions of the phrase, "what you gonna do when you find you."

After an introductory guitar passage reminiscent of Radiohead's "Just," "Don't You Worry" gives way to twinkling sunrays of synth and floating psych-pop vocals a la the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows." Offering one of the disc's many curious riddle-me-this moments, Noir asks while hurtling spaceward, "If you don't want to be with me, what do you expect me to be?" In another context, such a request would perhaps be somewhat more heartrending, but here it is delivered with such a playfulness that his answer-back as soon as the question is posed is hardly a surprise: "Don't you worry - I'll be fine."

And he will be fine: the album is loaded with carefree sentiments, childlike exuberance, and goofy wordplay. One disc highlight, "Happy Day Today," contains a particularly noteworthy couplet, considering Noir's seemingly uncontainable ebullience: "You know I find it hard to find the things I want to say / I'm like a kid who knows exactly what he wants for his birthday." It's a telling comment, and delivered among rich layers of Beach Boys harmonies - wherein Noir manages to imitate every Wilson brother in the process - it's easy to get caught up in the giddy joys of such a confession. "Look Around You" - based around a series of coyly head-scratching "I've never" statements and a wobbly dub rhythm - could very well be Beta Band reciting a Syd Barrett nursery rhyme By the time he reveals, "I never answer my phone / I much prefer the dial tone," I find myself believing him.

Perhaps the Jim Noir platform is best summed up on the jittery "Day by Day by Day," a playful romp in which our Peter Pan harmonizes with his vocoderized self while rinky-dink synths burble and gurgle underneath. "I like to go through my life day by day," he enthuses in a boyish falsetto. "I find it hard to plan for next week…or next minute." So, there you are, folks, the zen of Jim in one simple sentence. Or, to put it even more simply: "Have fun." Sage advice.

Here's the video for "All Right":