The Orchids – The Lost Star

Veterans of the Glasgow scene, The Orchids cut their teeth twenty years ago with cult Bristol based Sarah Records, lending the kind of jangly indie credentials most bands would sell their fringe to secure. They have pulled off something special with this, their fifth album in two decades, still heavily rooted to their early nineties sound without sounding stuck in the past.

Doot Doot (Till It Happens To You) might be a little Teenage Fanclub, the distorted guitar line snaking through the understated, sonorous vocals of James Hackett, while a little Beta Band filters through with Back To Your House. But the sound is their own, the relaxed chemistry of a band comfortable in their own skin. The emotions are simple, the music direct, but the effect immeasurable, like with the gently blooming oasis of Come Lay Down On My Bed, a simple request reiterated with the soothing repetition of waves on the shore. [Oisín Kealy]