Kevin Bronson on July 21st, 2015

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With its incessant bustle and oppressive culture of ego, Los Angeles demands answers. But with its scenic vistas and nearby wilderness, she forgives you for not providing them right away. In this headspace lie the songs of Henry Wolfe, who came west from New York City about five years ago and won acclaim for the genteel narratives on his solo debut “Linda Vista” (2011). He returns this week with the new album “Asilomar,” named for a slice of central California coastline where he spent some time in the summer of 2013. “The word is portmanteau of two Spanish words and means ‘asylum by the sea,’” he explains, a fitting metaphor for the new collection that includes “Miracle Mile” and “Encino,” highlights from the EP he released last year.

Wolfe, 35, imbues his meditations on love, loss and longing with subtle humor and Everyman sincerity; the gravitas on “Asilomar” (out this week) rests with the arrangements, cinematic flourishes and atmospheres in the production of Thom Monahan (Pernice Brothers, Vetiver, Fruit Bats, et al). From the Western trot of lead track “Crime” to the shimmering, beach-pop echoes in “Surfer Girl” to the painterly instrumental title track that closes the album, it’s easy to imagine the narrator standing motionless while all of Los Angeles flashes by in a blur. I am reminded of the quote by the author Louis L’Amour: “I could sit in the middle of Sunset Boulevard and write with my typewriter on my knees. Temperamental I am not.” A rare thing, that disposition.

||| Stream: “Asilomar”:

||| Live: Henry Wolfe plays July 28 at Harvard & Stone.

||| Previously: “Encino” EP; “Encino” video; “Open the Door”

Photo by Jacqueline Di Milia