After turning in one of the most focused records of his career with 2014's historically minded From Scotland with Love, Fife troubadour Kenny Anderson follows up with Astronaut Meets Appleman, a looser set whose earthy ramblings seem grounded more firmly in the present. In his prolific career as King Creosote, Anderson's D.I.Y. aesthetic has resulted in dozens of unedited small-batch releases peppered in among his more honed, higher profile albums. Released once again by Domino, Astronaut falls somewhere in the middle of his stylistic dial, offering fairly dense full-band arrangements along with a couple of spare, slightly more experimental tracks that have a distinctively home-built feel to them. Atop his ever-present acoustic guitar and accordion is Anderson's dazzlingly musical, sea-salted voice that, over the years, has added an air of enchantment to even his most tattered and undercooked material. Once again he finds great subtlety in gently rocking tracks like "Wake Up to This" and the dreamy, bagpipe-led "Melin Wynt," letting his introspections unfurl like pipe smoke as harps and cellos mingle with deep, roomy drums and guitars. The delicate "Rules of Engagement" is a classic King Creosote ballad rivaling some of his earlier high-water marks from 2005's KC Rules OK and 2011's magical Diamond Mine. "You Just Want," a highly effective seven-minute chamber rock journey ends the proceedings on a powerful note. At first blush, this is not one of Anderson's most immediately engaging albums, but it has a meandering charm that works its magic over time.