Endor – Endor

If timing’s everything then Endor should have set their watches. While Frightened Rabbit were flaunting their winsome jangling across the globe, their Glasgow counterparts – named after a George Lucas-made moon – toiled in the recording studio. Their debut now ready for release, this eponymously entitled longplayer airs the sound of a band eager to make up for lost time. Abounding infectious melodies, this innately Scottish affair combines twee sensibilities with intelligent guitar charges.

Without The Help of Sparks and Sea Fearing Legs are an immediate call-to-arms; each drilling out shout-a-long choruses accompanied by the snarl of pulsing, breathless riffs. The initial throttling subsides to a reel of glockenspiel stained tearjerkers, like The Observer and, the achingly beautiful, Two Lovers Holding Hands, which underline the quartet’s skilled dexterity. Sure, the record's a familiar hotchpotch of style and tempo, but its nimble execution suggests Endor are finally ready to step up to the plate. [Billy Hamilton]