CHVRCHESOscar Anjewierden

It’s amazing what turning on late-night Radio 1 when stuck on gridlocked motorways does for you. One hot night this summer I was aghast and delighted to hear the voices of Pete Doherty and Carl Barat filling the car, introducing their new single ‘Gunga Din’. And so I first heard of The Libertines’ rebirth, Anthems for Doomed Youth.

‘Gunga Din’ very much sets the tone for the record, which balances reliving the raucous glory of their wonder years with a tone of introspection, along with a healthy dollop of literary allusion to ease the process. The album was recorded in Thailand near the rehab that Pete recently spent time in, and it shows. “Oh the road is long / and if you stay strong / You’re a better man than I” the refrain goes, and honest discussion of age-old struggles with inner demons continues throughout. The album’s sound and the generous helping of stirring riffs are reassuringly Libertine, though overproduction leaves some tracks a tad dull. But the inclusion of older songs helps save it: ‘You’re My Waterloo’ appears injured and emotive, underlined with a simple, newly-written piano line. While there’s a lot to love here, I can’t help but hope that it is a stepping stone to something even more lyrically beautiful.

The hype that had built around The Libs has also been massing around Scottish synth-pop band CHVRCHES. After the success of their first album, the band have said in interviews that the writing of their latest offering, Every Open Eye, happened in a relative flash. They have certainly stuck to their formula of driving pop beats, but the sound is bolder and more mature. The subtly darker lyrical content of tracks such as ‘Playing Dead’ and ‘Empty Threat’ keep the work from becoming monotonously pop-happy, as do the dreamy synths of ‘Leave a Trace’ and ‘Afterglow’. In its entirety, the album is a masterpiece, and proves the talent of this band (as too, incidentally, does their cover of Bieber’s ‘What Do You Mean?’ - an otherwise irredeemable track).

Just as impressive is the debut album from Petite Noir, La Vie Est Belle / Life is Beautiful, with which South African Yannick Ilunga has this week crashed onto the global music scene. Ilunga is of Angolan-Congolese heritage and grew up in Cape Town, but it would be patronising to class his sound as ‘world’ or as having an ‘African influence’. In truth, his self-described “noirwave” is bold and original in its fusion of tripping beats, eclectic instrumentation and the singer’s own rich baritone, with flashes of Chicago house and layered polyrhythms emerging on tracks such as ‘Intro Noirwave’ and ‘Freedom’. He must surely find success in both underground and mainstream spheres – for the moment he defies classification, but listening to him you can’t help but agree that La Vie is indeed Belle.

Finishing off the picks are some dance tracks that have been picking up momentum this September (not least on that same late-night Radio 1; thanks again, wholly inadequate motorway system). The first is the latest from Bristol duo Icarus, ‘Ride This Train’ featuring Aniff Akinola. At points it risks sounding like big club fodder, but it is saved by the deep, unexpected groans of brass supporting an unlikely voice in dance music.

Finally, the latest offering from Lady Leshurr, ‘Queen’s Speech Ep. 4’, or ‘Brush Your Teeth’ as many are calling it. The artist has been making fresh, competent rap since 2009, but the dark sound of this track and clever, funny lyrics means you should sit up and listen. “Why you Snapchatting in the club for? / Just dance man”. Sage advice for us all this Freshers’ Week.

@speed_margot