Siberia
(Cooking Vinyl)
£9.99

Post-Punk may be all the rage, but no one is replicating the lush, romantic psychedelic sweep of Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant. Here, they are reunited with Hugh Jones, producer of the classic Heaven Up Here, for a confident, hook-filled record, tinged more with regret than the old, urgent invincibility. Playing on the self-mythologising that was a key part of the appeal, 'In a Life' pleads for 'songs to learn and sing', title of a previous greatest hits collection, while 'Parthenon Drive' is an upmarket 'Villiers Terrace'. Donnie Darko - and could that rabbit-obsessed film have begun with a track by any other band? - gave them a younger audience: this album allows older fans to reconnect with a band that retains a stately grandeur.