Every once in a while an album comes out of nowhere and finds you and knocks you over the head with its poignancy. It’s unfortunate that this happens so rarely, but there’s a damn good chance it will when you listen to Winechuggers’ new record Grand Rapids for the first time.

Winechuggers is the project headed up by William Cameron, a songwriter who catalogs various human foibles -- from obsessive love to angst to the inability to settle down in one place very long -- and then chisels out an unusual melody to sing along with. In an (indie) world where most musicians craft their songs to fit snugly into categories, Cameron follows his heart, slowing things down when detailing a walk in the rain in Pittsburgh (“Jimmy Beaumont’s Blues”) or going all synthesized and psychedelic while making up a story about lost Beatles photographs (“Sixth Beatle,” possibly the only song ever to feature a line about a guy who plays bass for the Silver Jews). He’s equally likable when he goes up-tempo; on the driving “Long Circuitous Path,” Cameron’s slacker drawl pairs with a perky piano figure and bouncy rhythm, sounding something like Beck fronting Wilco.

Winechuggers may seem to have popped up out of nowhere, but Cameron’s got a history. He started the project while living in Chicago, a side gig and change-up from his electronic duo Emperor Penguin, in which he played keyboards under the pseudonym Melvoin Stanke. Moving between Chicago and his hometown near Indianapolis, he began recording what would become Grand Rapids with friends Jeb Banner and his Emperor Penguin mate Carl Saff, finishing up most of the album by 2001. After a half-hearted attempt to get the disc put out, he packed the recordings in a box and moved to San Francisco, where he now lives. Last year, a copy found its way to the Arena Rock Recording Company offices in Portland, and the label is now bringing us what would’ve been something of a lost classic.

Though it’s four years old, the songs sound remarkably fresh. Standout moments include the album’s sole electronic track, “Rock and Roll Ambulance,” which features Cameron moaning “I didn’t think I would make it” over a loping melody played on a vintage Italian organ (the Bontempi Mirage, for the gearheads out there) and a tearjerker cover of Split Enz’s “Six Months In a Leaky Boat.” The Winechuggers version recasts the 80s pop semi-hit as a melancholy folk-pop number that better serves its heartfelt message about love gone wrong.

If that’s not enough, Cameron throws in a few acoustic tracks that will remind some of Elliott Smith with a slightly sunnier disposition. It all adds up to an album that belongs in heavy rotation for anyone with a romantic side, an album that’ll stick with you long after you’ve shut off the stereo, pushed the pause button on your iPod, or logged off your computer. Sit back and take a swig along with Winechuggers.