Tindersticks

★★★ Distractions LUCKY DOG/CITY SLANG. CD/DL/LP

Beloved Nottingham-Euro quintet channel Sleaford Mods on an accordion. While Tindersticks share little artistic ground with Sleaford Mods, the Nottingham quintet’s 13th album bears more than a dash of Sleaford lo-fi, confirmed by 11-minute workout Man Alone (Can’t Stop The Fadin’). After the Sticks’ cohesive 2019 LP No

Treasure But Hope, this sparse funk encourages tremulous repetitive strain from Stuart Staples, rising to an unexpected Kraftwerkian car crash; a similar nod to Roxy illuminates Television Personalities cover You’ll Have To Scream Louder. With band members across Europe, Tue-moi quivers in French while I Imagine You whispers eerily in a youth’s ear (“top of the cupboard there”). Semtex, maids and blackened peaches cause Staples to livereview his own album: “Overall, it’s going OK, some good ideas, badly executed.” The climactic Bough Bends leaves us with just distant birdsong. Recorded remotely, Distractions is febrile and modern but cries out for a through-line.