Alchemy

The fun and engaging new album from the indie-folk band finds them celebrating their tenth anniversary by returning to their roots with a collection they have suggested is based on folklore from their hometown, though any hints that the collection falls into the dreaded ‘concept album’ category do it no favours. From the opening track ‘Anthem of the Alchemist’, with its exhortation to ‘find your anthem and fly,’ brother-and-sister duo Matthew and Julia Lowe with their school friends Tom Sweet and Harry Stasinopoulos have crafted an eclectic, exuberant, and essentially life-affirming album that consistently plays to their strengths of hook-laden melodies and rousing arrangements. There are hints here and there of the genre-straddling but pop-friendly, the likes of Arcade Fire, even of the mighty Bellowhead, and certainly the majority of these tracks would sound as welcome on mainstream radio as they will doubtless do bringing lightness and whimsical joy to the middle of a festival field or a sweaty club.