Art brut

Wham! Bang! Pow! Let’s Rock Out Alcopop Indie ironists back from the dead with ferociously funny fifth album.

Like a millenial Jilted John, Art Brut lit up London’s midnoughties ‘grot’ scene with self-referential newwave satires delivered with tongue firmly in cheek.

Seven years on from the Frank Black-produced Brilliant! Tragic!, mainman Eddie Argos returns revived and fully rejuvenated.

‘I was born again in a pure white light!’ he hollers in blistering pop banger Hooray!, while Good Morning Berlin includes the lines: ‘Hipsters with beards eating falafel, wander these streets like herds of cattle’. Too Clever, meanwhile, finds him infuriated by his own witty wordplay, declaring: ‘I’m too clever for my own damn good!’

With their most effervescent tunes since 2005 debut Bang Bang Rock’n’Roll, this rollicking return will delight fans, especially upon hearing Hospital, where Argos sees the funny side of a self-inflicted brush with the Grim Reaper, musing: ‘When you go booze mental, remember water’s boring, but essential.’

A hilarious throwback to the days when bands didn’t take themselves too seriously.