On his fifth full-length in a 13-year career, sad bastard folk-rocker Hayden Desser has assembled another pleasant-sounding but altogether underwhelming effort. His singing voice, as always, travels from an uninterested mid-range to the occasional falsetto. The musical accompaniments, largely soft keys and guitars with splashes of horns or harmonicas, also work well enough, but offer little in the way of exploration.

While Hayden has made his mark in the past with lyrical skill, here even his poetry feels uninspired. On the opening title track, he suggests listeners “Take it easy/ it’s what we need to do right now/ cruel and weary/ are just some words I’d use for now.” Is this the admission of a half-written song? Only “Lonely Security Guard” offers any memorable imagery, as Desser details “He stands there in the heat/ looking straight down at his feet/ and with his hands and an old receipt/ he makes a swan so real it breathes.”

To be fair, fans of Bob Dylan or Bill Callahan will enjoy this as background music. In any setting other than as a coffee shop soundtrack, though, In Field and Town will blow in one ear and out the other.