Appointing Xenomania's Brian Higgins to oversee A Joyful Noise could be read as Gossip deciding that, while critical acclaim is all very nice, a hit would come in handy, too. To many, the Oregon threesome are a one-song band, and the longer they go without a tune to match 2007's Standing in the Way of Control, the more niche they become. So if the roaring electro-punk of their last album, Music for Men, preached only to the converted, this time it's Girls Aloud producer Higgins to the rescue, with a sound influenced by Abba and Madonna. Having said that, Gossip – especially Beth Ditto, in waspishly fine voice here – seem very much at home with it. Ditto says she prepared for the album by listening to Abba, and she takes on these fizzing, electronic melodies just as that band might have, applying a topcoat of gloss and an underlayer of tenderness and ire. There's nothing overtly political about her lyrics, many of which address a "you" who perpetually disappoints her; essentially, A Joyful Noise is a brave stab at something new.