Brian Wilson may now be in his mid-60s but that is certainly no reason for the acclaimed musician to not be very young at heart still, as young as in those golden years when good vibrations, California girls and surfing were the essence of his SoCal hippie lifestyle.

“That Lucky Old Sun” is Brian Wilson’s latest musical offering and one that has been received by critics with warm enthusiasm. Then again, it’s hard not to get a warm tingly feeling once the album’s first track starts playing.

The title song, inspired by a song made famous by Louis Armstrong and by Frank Sinatra in the late 1940s, is the introductory piece into the album and sets the mood for dreaminess, nostalgia, sensibility and romance.

That golden-aged well-known sunshiny vibe the Beach Boys brought to their music, making it their trademark, their simply immediately recognizable style, rubs off generously on Wilson’s new album but is refined and discreetly matured.

This time around, Wilson teamed up with Scott Bennett, member of his touring band, to write most of the songs, and with Van Dyke Parks (fellow sunny boy from the 1960s with whom he worked on the ill-fated “Smile” album).

As a concept record, “That Lucky Old Sun” focuses on Southern California, the beach, the sun, the joy of being able to savor life’s naturally free gifts. Then again, an older and wiser Wilson bravely touches on the pain of his past and the years that may have gone by without laughter.

In “Midnight’s Another Day” in particular Wilson delves on the dark shadows of his past, singing, “All these people make me feel so alone.”

The pervasive feeling though is gratitude for being alive and for still being able to enjoy life. As he candidly told US Weekly, “I can still create music. I’m surprised. I didn’t think I’d still be this interested.”

Brian Wilson’s previous studio album was “Smile,” saved from oblivion and released in 2004. The album was initially created in the mid 1960s, mainly by Wilson and Parks, but the Beach Boys could not reach consensus, other factors intervened and the project remained unfinished for decades to come.

The resurrected “Smile” did not particularly tickle critics’ sympathy bone. “That Lucky Old Sun” seems to have a different fate though.