It’s fitting that the duo of Sam & Ruby should release its debut album at the height of summer—The Here and the Now sounds like a hot, lazy day whose wafting breezes carry intimations of sensuality. Sam Brooker and Ruby Amanfu make an odd couple on paper: He’s from Wisconsin, she’s from West Africa and they met in Nashville. But on record they sound perfectly simpatico, their sweetly intertwining voices lying atop a comfortable bed of country, folk and soul. The Here and the Now is a seductive little gem whose appeal should far outlast the summer.