Wayne Mason occupies a special niche in the pantheon of great Kiwi songwriters.

He isn't overly prolific - this is just his third solo album - and few of his songs have become singalong anthems, but the quality is always there.

Every so often, he pops up with a grunty band behind him and delivers a new set of warm, tuneful meditations on celebrating and losing love.

Sense Got Out comes seven years after his last album, Same Boy, but eschews that album's commercial veneer for a cosier feel.

The title track, a finalist in the prestigious United States-based International Songwriting Competition two years back, gently chugs along, with Mason "dancing on the last train out of town".

He gets to rock out with Art House Movies, before getting acoustic and confessional on Side of the House.

There's the obligatory solo piano bit with Another Day, but Mason gets to show off his boogie-woogie piano skills and unleash a bluesy shout on Shutters.

Sandwiched between these are pleasant numbers with sneaky hooks, such as Last Dance (For Dreams and Hopes), the country-flavoured Tightrope (which is as good as anything he did with the Warratahs) and the smouldering, semi-Celtic closing track, Plates.

Mason's songs have an air of instinctive warmth and well-measured emotion, and it doesn't take long before they start worming their way into your heart.

Let the man create at his own pace.

Whatever he comes up with, you know it'll be good. - B+