Alex Minoff has an album of new tunes. Someone should put out this Alex Minoff album of new tunes!

For now, it’s all on Soundcloud, and the songs are rich in lovelorn bon mots (“I only ever loved two things, and both of them are you”), early rock ‘n’ roll tropes, and the kind of colorful, acrobatic guitar figures Minoff has explored in his half-Kenyan band Extra Golden.

You would have heard these songs last month if you saw Minoff—-performing as just Alex—-open for Chain & the Gang at the Black Cat. He was wearing a stylish white blazer, played solo and acoustic, and at times hit a sweet spot Elvis Costello, Stephin Merritt, and Jonathan Richman have all profited from at points in their careers: equal parts romantic and acerbic.

The material gets a nicely full treatment in these studio versions. Minoff writes he started recording the material about a year ago in Los Angeles with drummer Jon Theodore, with whom Minoff used to play in the band Golden, and finished it last summer. He plays May 21 at Velvet Lounge with Man Forever and Buildings guitarist Collin Crowe.

Take a listen below. “Simple Man” deserves some kind of prize for hyper-efficient musical autobiography: