Dutch band Templo Diez are back with Starlight, an album that mixes dark Americana, dream pop and college rock. Five years in the making it is well worth the wait. The band's songwriter and singer Pascal Hallibert has written sad tales about traveling, love lost and found, insanity, and the beauty of the sea at night.

Leejon Verhaeg, Paolo Panza, Hans Custers and Shireen van Dorp provide a gentle backing that is actually quite intense. Soft-spoken, but packing a punch Templo Diez touches base with Bruce Springsteen in a mellow mood and the Velvet Underground on their third album.

(Hans Werksman)