Five years after the lasting breakthrough of his 2018 debut EP, Measurements, alt-folk singer-songwriter Didirri Peters finally has a debut album to his name. Now relocated from Australia to London, Peters builds on the EP’s introspective themes of growth and change with another set of arresting tracks. “Obsolete Machine” opens the album with a bare-bones guitar strum and drum machine before expanding gradually into a Springsteen-esque ballad. Other songs follow a similar swelling path to emotional release, including the aptly named “Heaving Chest”. “You Know What’s Good for You” is lighter in tone and yet edges closer toward full-band rock, while “Love Can Bleed You By the Hand” is so intimate that you can hear the actual piano keys being depressed at times. Emboldened by Rob Muinos’ stark and moody production, Peters leans into his gothic flair on tracks like “Tonight”, wondering over ragged reverb if the dead might speak. Most affecting of all is the closing “Numb”, a song so personal that Peters doesn’t like to discuss it. Bleaker than anything else on Caught In the Act, it’s a valuable reminder of how we just might claw our way back from even our lowest moments.