For their ninth album, Glasgow’s indie-pop darlings explore the personal and the political. Guns, protests and political dissatisfaction are balanced with a tender, awestruck look at the redemptive (and sometimes spiritual) power of love, themes most poignantly brought together in the hauntingly brilliant opening track Nobody’s Empire (which frontman Stuart Murdoch has called “the most personal I’ve ever written”). Delivering this mix of melancholy and optimism with their trademark storytelling panache, the band have created a compelling and moving record, with Enter Sylvia Plath and The Party Line offering an unexpected Europop divergence from their roots.
