Please understand something here: I do not often compare things to Cass McCombs. Nobody sounds like Cass McCombs. He has a voice and an approach that are basically impossible to imitate. So when I say that “Lion In Chains,” the latest song we’ve heard from the Halifax band Nap Eyes, sounds like Cass McCombs, I am not accusing Nap Eyes of aesthetic thievery. Instead, I am paying them a compliment of the highest order. “Lion In Chains” is a laid-back twinkle that combines lyrical sharpness, loose structure, and ambling melody like nobody this side of McCombs, and that is a good thing. Nap Eyes are getting ready to release their sophomore album Thought Rock Fish Scale — probably not a Ghostface reference, but who knows? — and we’ve already posted their songs “Mixer” and “Roll It.” “Lion In Chains” runs six and a half minutes, and it is lovely. Listen below.

Thought Rock Fish Scale is out 2/5 on Paradise of Bachelors.