“The narrative thread is I’m in love with an angel, and a government is after us, and we have to leave home because angels are illegal, as is harbouring angels,” says Ezra Furman of this, his seventh album. It doesn’t take a genius to see the grim, earth-bound realities that his heavenly concept draws parallels to, and it’s this sense of defiance and unrest that runs throughout ‘Transangelic Exodus’. From the howled yell of “a plague on both your houses” that ends opener ‘Suck The Blood From My Wound’ to the claustrophobic drums and war-cry horns of ‘No Place’, the record seethes with barely contained rage and pain. Even on its more straightforward moments (‘Love You So Bad’), Ezra is still a unique-enough narrator to tell these universals with fresh eyes. Timely and uncompromising, it feels like a record of real importance.