Ryan McPhun and his Ruby Suns moniker are an unknown quantity in the most literal sense – you never know how many of them exist at any one moment, nor who they'll be. In essence, the only constant is McPhun himself – the somewhat dry Californian-cum-Aucklander possessed of curly locks, a vacationing wardrobe and a soaring, boyish singing voice.

2008's Sea Lion mined McPhun's West Coast heritage, marrying flagrant Beach Boys and Panda Bear influences with rhythms from Pacific, Caribbean and African music. That was a gentler, more reflective affair (despite the, at times, overwhelming and heavy-handed layered percussion). While those influences remain on Fight Softly, they've taken on a little extra Brooklyn, with Arthur Russell, High Places, and the Roland SP-404 sampler featuring prominently on the guest list.

The upshot is an album that sees McPhun more focused on the dancefloor than ever before. To anyone who's seen The Ruby Suns performing live, this will come as no surprise – on tour, it's McPhun himself, or with partner Amee Robinson, or with a handful of others. The Ruby Suns live show has grown to incorporate more and more sampling (an effort to make economical an always busy touring calendar?) and since ditching a more stable line-up a couple of years ago, it’s seen more beat-heavy interpretations of songs from Sea Lion as well. McPhun has also been playing with Signer (aka Bevan Smith), who assisted with production on Fight Softly and whose fingerprints are all over its drum sounds.

In some ways, Fight Softly is bolder than anything prior. Take the thick, buzzy chord melody of 'How Kids Fail'; the cheesy vocal sampling of 'Haunted House'; or the thrilling, skittering percussion of 'Olympics on Pot', for example. Often guilty of overbaking his arrangements a little, McPhun has rarely before allowed any one element to commandeer his songs. In the case of 'Olympics on Pot', he's nailed “sport music” perfectly with his echoing drums and triumphant synth fanfare. I could easily imagine this over the titles of Sports Tonight with Brad McEwan. Goal!

At the same time, Fight Softly does as its title implies. With the exception of the dreamy, unquestionable 'Cinco', the record pulls punches when it needs to strike firmly, tempering propulsion and clarity with a haze of reverb, of slow attacks and long releases. This becomes frustrating, especially in the way it so often reduces McPhun's layered vocals to a decorative detail, equally indulgent and insignificant. Given that he's more than capable as a singer, it's also needless. There's no question that McPhun is a gifted producer – the evidence is in the infinite bells and whistles of this album – but, 10 songs later, it's hard to feel much of a connection to him as a songwriter.

But possibly the greatest shame is that McPhun's digitised live renditions of Sea Lion's best songs outdo both that record and this one. He had hit a sweet spot there – and in person, his singing could only be obscured by so much echo. Those songs may never make it to a recording, but if McPhun can strike that balance, the resulting album will blow minds.

by Babette Gladney