Although very much embedded in the UK choral scene, British composer Paul Ayres writes a lot for American ensembles, and influences from this tradition and its sound world are almost more evident in this attractive collection from Sarah MacDonald and the Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge.

Written with practicality in mind, Ayres’s anthems are all about generous simplicity: big, juicy unison lines, warm three- or four-part homophony and affirmative, tonal-with-a-scrunch harmonies. They cry out for a school or college choir of hundreds but are nicely showcased by the leaner Selwyn Choir, who have a more ingenuous, youthful sound than their rivals Clare or Trinity that’s well suited to the material.

Works like A new commandment, This is the day and When the song of the angels is stilled demonstrate Ayres’s range and his instinct for a graceful melody – choirs of all abilities can find something within their grasp. The arrangements of American Spirituals are more demanding, especially Motherless child, which feels overstretched. But the effective Didn’t my Lord deliver Daniel? (performed with nicely relaxed consonants and an easy swing here) is a standout.

Ayres is an organist, and his delight in contrapuntal play, harmonic reworkings and manipulations is given rein in a large number of hymn arrangements. These range from the effective – This joyful Eastertide gets a lovely, light-footed treatment, and there’s a geeky pleasure to Ayres’s Bach-inspired Crimond reimagining – to the slightly underwhelming Let all mortal flesh and The angel Gabriel.