Singer Allyson Seconds and songwriter/ producer Anton Barbeau have teamed up again for a new album. “Little World” picks up nicely where Allyson’s 2009 debut, “Bag of Kittens,” left off, matching her honey-velvet vocals with Ant’s layered and harmony-rich psych-pop songs. “Little World” came together quickly, neither artist realizing at first a new album was being made. “It wasn’t planned out. As with the first album, it started with one song, then another,” explains Anton. The initial sessions were a breeze, with the title track and a few other tunes being written and recorded in January of 2015. Knowing they were onto a good thing, Ant returned from Berlin in September, but the scene in California had changed considerably, affecting both the nature of the songs as well as Allyson’s vocal performance. Allyson, who rarely misses a day at the river with her dogs, was seeing first hand the effects of climate change on her “little world.” “There was the drought and the smoke from all the wildfires, plus I’d been ill and didn’t know if I could even sing,” says Allyson. Ant adds, “We embraced the edge of rawness in Al’s voice.” A casual listener probably won’t hear this, as Allyson’s vocals are lovely as ever, but there’s an authenticity to her performance. “The September vibe of life on a dying planet” became part of the sound of the record. Despite the dire backstory, ultimately the sound and feeling of “Little World” is joyful. “The community aspect stands out the most to me,” says Allyson. “Even though my name is on the cover, I feel like I’m an equal-part player. I wanna put everyone’s name on it.” Those names include the Bevis Frond, Kimberley Rew, Michael Urbano, Karla Kane from the Corner Laughers, Larry Tagg, Kevin Allison, and Chipping Norton’s Su Jordan. Colin Moulding of XTC offered to sing harmony on the title track, and Vince DiFiore of Cake punctuates “Apples Are Falling” with an appropriately autumnal trumpet line. “Octagon” features a blistering guitar from the late Scott Miller, the recording a holdover from Allyson’s first album. Greek musicians Jamie Smith and Orestes Koletsos bring an exotic flavor to several songs, including “Great Blue Heron,” with its hypnotic, circular pulse obscuring the darker lyrical imagery lurking below the surface. Some of the collaborators sent tracks remotely from around the globe, while local friends came over and recorded their parts into the same microphone, sitting in the same chair. “Everyone on ‘Little World’ is connected; it’s one big ball of music,” says Allyson. This tangible connection between the musicians on the album, and certainly between longtime friends and collaborators Allyson and Anton, weaves a common thread between the songs. At the heart of it, though, Allyson’s voice and Anton’s songwriting are a match made right here on earth — “Little World” after all. This is classic California pop with gorgeous harmonies, textured arrangements, an organic sound and a sense of joy. Plug in your Walkman and get yourself down to the river with “Little World” as the soundtrack. As Allyson puts it, “It’s all we’ve got, so let’s go out and be in it.”