Unlike many other Liverpool musicians, Neville Skelly doesn’t cite Lennon/McCartney as his main influence, nor did he get his start playing in dingy neighborhood bars. Skelly grew up listening to Cole Porter and George Gershwin albums, as well as acoustic folk recordings, before taking his own music aboard cruise liners and working-men’s clubs. His 2010 EP plays like he was going through a serious Scott Walker phase, as the title track opens with darkened balladry built on orchestral arrangements leaning toward baroque-pop architecture. Skelly even croons like Scott 2–era Walker on “The World Turns Around,” a moody piece punctuated by twangy pedal steel and rhythms that morph into playful waltzes at the drop of a hat. And while his own songs are impressively arranged and executed compositions that sound like he’s been honing his craft for years, a spot-on cover of Jackson C. Frank’s “Blues Run the Game” is the EP’s centerpiece, as Skelly’s aloof inflections channel some of Frank’s palpable pain. “The Road I’m On (Gloria)” coasts on folky fingerpicking and reverb-drenched vocals.