Out 24th August, ‘Old Dog, New Tricks’ is the new album from Canadian-born, Australian-resident indie troubadour Brian Campeau. This exhilarating record illuminates an artist who is equally concerned with musical complexity and creative progress as with straight-up, damn good, life-brightening pop songs.

First single “Whatever Happened To Xanadu” - a psychedelic jam piled high with intricate guitar hooks, iridescent vocals and oddball production flourishes - introduced the record with heavy daytime BBC 6Music play from Radcliffe & Maconie and Lauren Laverne (who also championed it on 6Music Recommends), and positive press attention. The folk-laced, harmony-laden “Next October” (out online 20th June), continues the trajectory, gaining equally high profile early support.

Four albums into his solo career, and thirty-something years into a life punctuated by periods of serious depression, Brian Campeau has taken the plunge and done something he never knew he had in him: made a full record channelling and projecting feelings of positivity. It’s a thought he had toyed with before but never given much credence; the idea finally took root, ironically, via a cynical game he played with himself online.

“I started posting inspirational memes on social media, as a complete joke. Really saccharine things, like pictures of myself shirtless on a beach with a quote saying 'live laugh love' or 'everything is beautiful and you are everything'. Funnily enough, after doing this for a while I started finding my mood drastically improving”, says Campeau. “Later on, towards the end of a severe bout of depression, I started thinking of that moment of happiness (and also about the words of my ex-girlfriend, who has a very happy outlook in general – an attitude I found admirable, but alien). This brought back to mind the concept of making a happy album, partially as a challenge to myself, which is something I like, and also as a form of self-help”.

He had always been circumspect about the ability of happy music to pack much creative merit or complexity. But he set to writing songs with happy messages, and major chords, and eventually: “I started to actually make complicated and satisfying songs that sounded kind of poppy and happy. I was also finding ways of writing positive lyrics that weren't obvious and stupid, and which reflected personal feelings and stories.”

Although the positive theme was out of character, the imposing of boundaries was not; each Campeau solo LP has begun with a concept. 2015's acclaimed 'Don't Overthink it, Overthink, Overthinking' comprised one- and two-take recordings made over a mere five days. Just as that sparked a love of rapid, instinctual creative processes and a deeply felt freedom, on ‘Old Dog, New Tricks’ he felt relief at looking forward, cutting loose from any introspective, overly serious impressions that his past music had made.

While no less deep, emotive or intense than their predecessors – touching on unrequited crushes and failed relationships, unflinching self-judgments, mental ill-health, outgrown friendships, the Australian government’s utterly inhumane treatment of refugees – these new tracks are brimming with compassion, offbeat wit and positive, psychedelic vibrations.

Many of them were also written and recorded at speed, their lavish intricacy a testament to Campeau's finely-honed instincts as a writer and player – skills nurtured over a childhood of classical guitar training in Ottawa (and Paris, where his family moved for three years). This practice ran parallel to a self-taught course in the art of nailing all the guitar parts on Guns 'N' Roses' 'Appetite For Destruction'.

Having always had an ear to a limitless range of musical styles, Campeau unites far-reaching influences among a mix of folk, psych, rock and electronica. Metallers the Rollins Band meet George Harrison on the bombastic “Pie In The Sky”; the bittersweet “Slow Walking” slips into ‘80s synth-pop; experimental drone on “Two Repeating” began life as a composition for a live night where the blindfolded audience sit among a surround-sound forest of speakers. The busy Kora and guitar sound of “Done It Again” draws inspiration from his recent mixing work for several Malian bands; while the influence of Paul McCartney’s uplifting songwriting provides a counterpoint to a heartrending story on “Land We Found”.

Complementing Campeau’s vocals, guitar, keys and production, a carousel of guest musicians lend each track its own bespoke treatment. These include vocalists Elana Stone (of rising folk sensations All Our Exes Live In Texas) and Hannah Cameron; jazz sax from Justin Fermino; and, lest we forget, Shakes the dog, who visited Campeau’s studio and unwittingly provided a vocal sample. Chris Allison (Plini) and Tully Ryan kill it on drums, while Josh Ahearn adds his magic touch on bass.

Having become ensconced in the Sydney music scene, Campeau is widely regarded as one of the most confounding and creative artists working in Australia today. In addition to his previous solo albums (which also include 2007's 'Two Faces' and 2009's 'Mostly Winter, Sometimes Spring') he has recorded and toured as one half of folk-pop act The Rescue Ships and as part of Sydney’s bluegrass revivalists The Green Mohair Suits, while also producing records for artists including Melanie Horsnell in his studio, and supporting the likes of Joanna Newsom live.

This fascinating and formidable fourth album is the sound of Brian Campeau finding the key to his own happiness, and is set to put smiles on the faces of music fans the world over.