Muse - Starlight

Stately, space-age, and beyond kitsch - Starlight, the second single from 'Black Holes and Revelations', finds Muse happy in their continually expanding prog-rock bubble. The Teignmouth trio deserve praise for eschewing the current climate of mainstream indie in favour of their own madcap, inter-stellar route to success, and sure enough, the refrain from Starlight is so unfashionable it sounds like the theme for some short-lived 80s TV soap. Having said this, the sum total of this conscious retro-ness combined with Matt Bellamy's characteristic falsetto wail and some 'Origin of Symmetry'-style galactic synth accompaniment makes for a compelling listen. [Nick Mitchell]