Left languishing in label-less limbo for several years with an album almost ready to go, the time away has nonetheless served Fight Like Apes well; a calmer and infinitely more focused sound has emerged.
Their third record maintains their sense of impish impropriety with songs such as I Don't Want to Have to Mate with You, but a 1980s new-wave influence colours the melodies of Pop Itch and Pretty Keen on Centrefolds.
It's a more electronic and less punk-addled affair overall, but closing track Carousel, with its stately drum beat exploding into riotous electropop, marries both worlds brilliantly. It exhibits a new phase for a band with bucketloads of imagination – as well as catchy choruses.
