If you're a band like The Black Heart Procession and you've already made a triumphant trilogy of records (1,2 and 3; what else would they have been called?) and a heralded Latin-tinged concept album about the loss of love (Amore del Tropico) where exactly do you go next? The answer is recharge the batteries for four years and then make a tour de force return to form with the bleak, bittersweet, darkly calm atmospherics of The Spell.

The Black Heart Procession have always seemingly been one part Sparklehorse to two parts Tindersticks, but for The Spell, Pall Jenkins and company recruited The Album Leaf's Jimmy LaValle and Matt Resovich for keyboards/bass and violin respectively. What has transpired is an album that sounds at times as elegant as any Dirty Three record but still stays true to what B.H.P. are all about, bringing you down in the most lovely and mesmerizing way possible. Jenkins sounds more confident on The Spell than ever before and tracks like "The Letter" and "GPS" show just how much maturity a four year hiatus can bring about. The Spell may not be quick to impress the casual fan that hopped on the buzz bandwagon of the Latin themed Amore, but for diehards that have been awaiting a return to form back to the infamous trilogy, this record will definitely bewitch.