The upturn in Guy Garvey’s romantic fortunes, alluded to on his 2015 solo debut Courting the Squall, proved to be his relationship with the actor Rachael Stirling. Having married her last year, the mood on his band’s first album in three years is even more explicitly joyful. The gorgeous Trust the Sun, in particular, is the sound of a man hopelessly in love (“You’re my reason for breathing”), and an air of unconfined happiness permeates several other songs (although there’s an uneasy nod to Brexit on K2). And while this seventh album continues the band’s slow move away from the anthemic drama of The Seldom Seen Kid, there’s a richness of ideas here that rewards repeated listening.
