Two Door Cinema Club - False Alarm

If the Two Door Cinema Club of 2010 debut ‘Tourist History’ were young, successful deer in the headlights then, by 2014 and the conclusion of their second, things were altogether more fractious; returning in 2016 with ‘Gameshow’, meanwhile, the band that showed up were a trio fighting to regain their sense of self and their place at indie’s top table. It’s been a rollercoaster for the Bangor group, but it’s one that only makes the fresh, invigorated pay-off of fourth LP ‘False Alarm’ all the more joyous. From the opening, ringing keys of ‘Once’ - the appropriate, aural equivalent of taking your first, squinting steps into the new-day sun - ‘False Alarm’ manages to combine a newfound sense of brave experimentation with the band’s tried-and-tested way with a sparkling hook. The idiosyncratic, Devo-esque ‘Talk’ is the strangest single they’ve ever released, but it’s still huge; ‘Nice To See You’ prowls along with a ‘Fame’-era Bowie slink, while ‘Dirty Air’ is the taut dancefloor banger that Franz Ferdinand never wrote. It’s unexpectedly weird in places, but never for the sake of it. Instead, Two Door Cinema Club have learnt how to harness their mainstream power while taking creative risks. They pay off almost every time.