Girl Ray’s 2017 debut album, Earl Grey, was a very particular kind of record: an indie album in a style that would have been completely familiar to someone tuning in to Radio 1 at 10pm on a Monday night in the mid-80s.

Guitars jangled; there was sometimes a Velvetsy organ droning in the background. You could all but hear John Peel announcing there’d be three more from the band later on in the programme. Its follow-up is a very different kind of album in which the makers do what indie bands are wont to do these days: pivot to pop and R&B.

The shift was inspired, apparently, by the ascension to pop aristocracy of Ariana Grande, and was aided by Metronomy and Christine & the Queens producer Ash Workman. What it ended up sounding like is a British indie band not getting chart pop right, and that’s no bad thing by any means. Ever since Orange Juice, great music has been made in that contested ground. The good bits are awfully good: the title track manages to make its squalling synth line work with gently funky guitar (and, yes, it does sound more like Orange Juice than Ariana Grande). Friend Like That bounces around on synthetic percussion like a ping-pong ball. But, understandably, Girl feels more exploratory than certain, never quite as assertive of its identity as one might hope. Still, their willingness to shift identity without compromising their core suggests Girl Ray could have a lustrous future.