Ben Auld’s second album ‘Loserdom’ is named after a term said by Walter Becker in a Steely Dan documentary and finds the Norwich-based singer-songwriter celebrating the relief that comes when you accept your losses and start to move on in life.

The appropriately titled ‘Opening’ starts the record with gentle guitar strums and then later a sprinkle of emo charm before stopping all too soon – a feature of an album filled with songs that rarely go above the 3-minute mark. ‘Chalice’ follows with Weezer-style power pop hooks, although there’s also some of the understated sensibilities of The Undertones on display. There’s a nostalgic title on ‘Red Bandana’ as Ben remembers some of the things he used to share.

‘Reckoned’ is fast, fun, frenetic and fantastic and could easily have been the theme tune to a mid ’90s sitcom – a compliment we do not share lightly. ‘Talking Dog’ finds Ben longing for affection and attention as he pleads ‘I only want to make things better’ over Teenage Fanclub-style melodies. ‘If I Had the Guts’ finds him in defiant fashion, declaring ‘It isn’t the end of us’ over punky riffs, while ‘High School Hierarchies’ is 29 seconds of high-octane energy.

Clocking in at an epic 2 minutes and 57 seconds, ‘Saint Bartholomew’ is the longest song on the album and its hooks have an irresistible zest, albeit wrapped around a touch of sadness: ‘There’s no way back to you’. This is followed by the more acoustic-based and introspective ‘Long Before I Felt the Grace’ and closing ‘Sacrament/Loserdom’ with its final, fatal sign-off: ‘I’m a loser kid from Loserdom’.

If Ben’s a loser, then sign us up for his Losers Club today.