Former Fight the Big Bull leader Matthew E. White stepped up as a major solo artist with his 2012 LP Big Inner, fusing funk, stringbolstered piano pop, gospel reveries and psychedelic buildups. With Fresh Blood, White refines his sound. He possesses a distinct voice, relaxed and narcotized, and he puts it to beautiful use on these mellow grooves. Unlike many of his sanctified influences, White never soars over the choirs and strings. Instead, he hovers just over the surface, with lyrics both sly—“Everybody likes to talk shit,” he warns on “Rock & Roll Is Cold”—and profound and cooing. (On “Vision,” he offers, “Please don’t misread my vision.” ) White isn’t shy about evoking classic references like Randy Newman, Sly & The Family Stone, The Beatles, Allen Toussaint, Curtis Mayfield and the Hi Rhythm Section, but his unique take remains intact, especially on the mournful “Tranquility,” an elegy for the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.