Album: Electrelane - No Shouts No Calls (Too Pure)

Having perfected a brand of playfully experimental indie-rock on their previous three albums, culminating in the messy, fitfully thrilling Axes, No Shouts, No Calls sees Electrelane ploughing a much more linear furrow. For the first time, song craft and way with melody is pushed to the fore in favour of an immediate, often catchy sensibility. It's a bold move, one that will irk the purists, but it's one that feels entirely natural and a big, brave step forward for the band.

This directness still comes allied to the influences that have driven Electrelane's sound thus far (Sonic Youth, Stereolab and Neu!) but grounding these more outré elements in touching pop songs full of desperation and regret is what makes No Shouts, No Calls arguably the crowning achievement of their career. From the opening paean to loss of innocence, 'The Greater Times', replete with Verity Susman's charmingly off-key vocal and yearning moog line, it's obvious that this clarity of sound suits the band well.

There's some really startling songs here; the sprightly, ukulele-driven indie-pop of 'Cut And Run', or the infectious, farfisa-heavy jam of 'Tram 21' (the instrumentals actually feel less incongruous here than they have before) for example. Some may pine for the atmosphere and nuance of The Power Out, but in rounding off some of the edges that made them a great band in the first place, they've opened up a range of possibilities as they head into what could be a rewarding second phase for the band.

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