Field Music, Francis Lung, Electric Ballroom review - neither band is capable of standing still

★★★★ FIELD MUSIC, FRANCIS LUNG, ELECTRIC BALLROOM Art-poppers advance

Well-matched bill catches art-pop outfits as they push forward

Forty five minutes into their set Field Music play “A House is Not a Home”, from their 2006 second album Tones of Town. An hour in, “Them That do Nothing” from 2010’s Measure is aired. They end with “Orion From the Street”, the opening track from their recent Flat White Moon album.

Manic Street Preachers, Brighton Dome review - solid gig occasionally explodes to another level

★★★ MANIC STREET PREACHERS, BRIGHTON DOME Solid gig occasionally explodes

Politically literate Welsh pop-rockers still have fire in their bellies

There is a three song segment midway through Manic Street Preachers’ set which suddenly ramps everything up. For this brief while, the performance and response in the sold-out, nigh-on-2000-capacity venue, elevates the concert from another decent gig on another tour in front of a devoted fanbase, to something more memorable and truly electric.

Album: Finneas - Optimist

★★★★ FINNEAS - OPTIMIST Brother and collaborator of a big star steps out on his own

Brother and collaborator of one of the biggest stars on earth steps out on his own

This record is a heck of a metatextual experience to listen to. In releasing his debut album, 24 year old Finneas O’Connell is attempting to step out of the shadow of one of the biggest pop cultural behemoths of our time – his own sister, Billie Eilish, who he also writes and produces for – and mark out a creative lane of his own. And he’s documenting this in many of these songs, which touch repeatedly on his experience of fame, struggles with identity and the like.

Maximo Park, Saint Luke's and the Winged Ox, Glasgow - indie veterans still have fire in their bellies

★★★★ MAXIMO PARK, SAINT LUKE'S AND THE WINGED OX, GLASGOW A new line-up and album has rejuvenated the artful rockers

A new line-up and album seems to have rejuvenated the artful rockers

Time waits for no band, as Maximo Park’s lively singer Paul Smith opined early into his band’s set. “I am young and I am lost” he declared during "The Coast Is Always Changing"’s jangly guitar-pop, before drily admitting afterwards that he might have to retire those words soon enough.

Album: Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under

★★SAM FENDER - SEVENTEEN GOING UNDER Geordie singer-songwriter unleashes fury

The Geordie stadium singer-songwriter unleashes fury while maturing his sound

Grand, sweeping romanticism with strong Celtic leanings is the order of the day lately, in a way it hasn’t been since the 1980s heyday of U2, Waterboys, Bruce Springsteen, Dexys and Simple Minds. The likes of Lewis Capaldi, Dermot Kennedy, Declan McKenna, Ed Sheeran in “Castle on the Hill” mode and Fontaines D.C. when they show their softer side are all taking yearning songs of big dreams colliding with small realities all the way to the bank.

Album: Efterklang - Windflowers

The Danish art-poppers balance the tension between reserve and forthrightness

Although Windflowers showcases Efterklang at their most direct, its sixth track “Living Other Lives” is its most instant, most straightforward composition. However, the Danish art-poppers’ sixth studio album does not instantly makes its case as a full-bore adoption of up-front dynamics.

Reissue CDs Weekly: Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating in Space; Super Furry Animals - Rings Around the World

REISSUE CDS WEEKLY Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating in Space; Super Furry Animals - Rings Around the World

Wallet-friendly new editions deliver an alternative to £250 original pressings

Looking for answers to what qualifies an album for a makeover and its attendant return to record shop racks can cause heads to spin. Multiple variables are at play but, still, it merits pondering. Market factors come into consideration, including the prices fetched by original pressings, even if the album isn’t obscure.

Album: Low - Hey What

★★★★ LOW - HEY WHAT The Minnesota duo at their most transcendent

The Minnesota duo at their most transcendent

Although Hey What is 47 minutes long and includes 10 tracks, it comes across as shorter due to its homogeneity. That’s not to say it all sounds the same, but that it has the overarching feel of a suite where the individual songs equate to movements within a long-form piece. It means that Low’s 13th full-length studio outing is an album as such, rather than a grab-bag collection of disparate compositions.

Album: The Stranglers - Dark Matters

★★★ THE STRANGLERS - DARK MATTERS Their 18th album combines the elegiac with the punchy

Eighteenth album from punk crossover originals combines the elegiac with the punchy

Following the death last year from COVID-19 of keyboard player Dave Greenfield, it appears the The Stranglers’ five decade journey may finally be drawing to a close. They bucked all odds by maintaining a path after singer Hugh Cornwall left in 1990, and the last two decades, especially, have seen them hold steady, both as a live draw and with critically respected albums.