WU LYF – A Wave That Will Never Break

After the brief initial run of WU LYF it felt unlikely we'd ever see a return. Go Tell Fire to the Mountain was a fascinating tome of inscrutable youthful release; emotions that were simply meant to be felt rather than understood. Fifteen years on, their second album lifts the aura of pretence and mystery, leaving an epic sound that is revelatory in its clarity and sincerity.

Love Your Fate is almost immediately recognisable through clattering drum-fills, ethereal guitar lines and Ellery Roberts' lacerating vocals, but a call to accept your circumstances has rarely sounded so joyous and life-affirming. The opening few songs trade on blunt aphorisms to forge a connection – 'Why d'you feel so hard to love? / Why d'you feel you're not enough? / All I want is to love you' – before the ten-plus-minute centrepiece, Tib St. Tabernacle forges a coherent narrative atop driving piano chords, drawing an unexpected Nick Cave comparison before collapsing into 70s rock excess.

Wave concerns the album's titular phrase and sees the sandpaper removed from Roberts' throat as a light guitar/keys backing eventually blossoms into an alternately angelic/demonic choir. It's ironic (or apt) that the album is produced by Sonic Boom as this song in particular walks the well-trodden path of his former Spacemen 3 bandmate Jason Pierce (Spiritualized): knotty emotions with religious undertones expressed through exultant arrangements.

Where WU LYF once teetered on the cliff-edge, barking every utterance like they knew it might be their last, they're now sure-footed and comfortable, speaking with a conviction that can only come with experience. The precipice still looms – charging their music with a feverish vitality – but, through radical acceptance instead of confrontation, they're trying to meet the world around them on its own terms. WU LYF version 2.0 might be the real deal.

Listen to: Love Your Fate, Wave