Courteeners are evolving. ‘Pink Cactus Café’ closes the biggest gap between albums for the Manchester band, and it also represents their first with two-long time touring partners as full-time members with Joe Cross and Elina Lin inducted into the band. Crisp and melodic, it takes the power behind those early anthems and transports it somewhere new, grappling with fresh colour in the process.

A trim 10 tracks – and 35 minutes of music – ‘Pink Cactus Café’ feels like a pared back record, a slightly old fashioned ‘two sides of vinyl’ structure. The highs are immediate – the lush, summer-coded ‘Sweet Surrender’ for example, or the joyous whistling of the title track, a peppy piece of indie pop that ranks with some of songwriter Liam Fray’s most carefree moments.

There’s a shift here, often imperceptible but it’s still there. ‘Solitude Of The Night Bus’ chimes with an 80s appeal, the dulcet synths underpinning a vocal that betrays after-midnight ennui. ‘First Name Terms’ puts this writer in mind of those a-Ha mega-hits – fun and frothy, there’s also emotion underneath the digitised palette.

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At their core, however, Courteeners still deliver anthems. ‘Love You Any Less’ taps into their stately live prowess, while the belting ‘Lu Lu’ takes the push-pull of post break-up jealousy into some arena-sized songwriting.

The band’s first in four years, ‘Pink Cactus Café’ broadens out what Courteeners stand for, and where they’re going. The guests here move from indie to pop and back again, ranging from Aussie types DMAs – on ‘The Beginning Of The End’ – through to CLASH faves Brooke Combe and PIXEY. Each have their own flavour, and stitch a new thread to the tapestry.

Crisp, succinct, and above all fun, ‘Pink Cactus Café’ ends a four-year wait for fresh material. It’s a long way from 2008 debut ‘St. Jude’, but then, why should anyone stay in the same place…? Courteeners may their journey sound joyous – long may they reign.

7/10

Words: Robin Murray

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