Acoustic Sunshine

Lie back and imagine, if you will, rays of sunlight refracted through the leaves of a gently trembling copse somewhere in the moss-carpeted forest of your mind — there may be a unicorn nearby, and some dandelions, whose wind-borne seeds fill the air along with this sublime soundtrack, the work of wood-nymphs — Alison Goldfrapp's sublime "Clowns" — and woodland satyrs, including modfather Paul Weller ("Roll Along Summer").

The pace slows to an easy trickle, in Next Steps.

Ever had your ears massaged by the wings of thousand tropical butterflies? No, neither have we, but the experience can't be too dissimilar to the sound of Jorge Drexler's "Al otro lado del rio", which you may recognise from the soundtrack to The Motorcycle Diaries. L.A.'s Silversun Pickups measure out the notes and chords of "Creation Lake" in a series of gentle exhalations, and Chris Walla is in no particular hurry to finish the delightful "A Bird Is a Song".

Lay thee down and consider the lilies . . . in Deep Cuts.

Caroline Herring borrowed the melody for "Midnight On the Water" from an old Texan fiddle tune, but she delivers it as only someone very familiar with the banks of the Mississippi can. Fellow folkie Joshua James was raised under the big Nebraskan sky, but was inspired by a trip to South America to craft pearls like "Soul and the Sea" from his 2007 digital release, The Sun Is Always Brighter, while Oregon's A Weather look way beyond Earth's atmosphere with "Oh My Stars".

If only there was some way to combine the physical balm of life-giving sun rays with the soul therapy of gentle acoustic melody, then capture that sweet salve in an online digital format, so that it might be applied aurally whenever required, whatever the season. Well . . . you see where we're going with this. Great, because in possession these tunes, you can only believe that all is good with the world, and that perfect harmony can be made real. Allow Voice of the Seven Woods, Jack Johnson, Laura Marling, Ben Griffith and their companions in bliss guide you to sonic nirvana.