A year ago, this Australian synthpop duo looked like they might be on the brink of big things. Their label, Mercury, was spending money promoting them – flying journalists to Florida to watch the group perform what was billed as "the first gig broadcast into space", though in reality that simply meant the first gig broadcast into space which no satellite was then picking up to beam back to earth – and had the album on its release schedules. Then it was postponed – and moving an album from one of the year's quietest weeks didn't seem to be a vote of confidence. A few months later, they were dropped entirely. Now, with no major label backing, the album finally emerges. Maybe Mercury's problems with the group were non-musical, for Around the Sun delivers its hooks cleanly and precisely – Love Get Out of My Way, I Won't Let Go and Black, the Colour of My Heart are slinky and attractive, and it's easy to imagine them playing in Topshop or on Radio 1. The lyrics are often arrant nonsense – how does one strike a victory march with charm, one wonders – and it lacks the sense of being heartfelt that creates the tension between warmth and chill in the best synthpop, but there are many pleasures here.