Sprints are the latest in a recent wave of successful Irish bands inspired by grunge, post-punk and indie, with a dark sense of humour, literary influences, and a need for open discourse (witness the caustic recent single ‘Descartes’) in an increasingly fractious world. Recent tours with Idles, Gossip, Kneecap and Pixies have sealed their wild live reputation. This second album, the follow-up to Letter To Self is good, if a little polite at times. I’d like to see some more grit under their fingernails, and less polished production.

Dublin-born singer Karla Chubb chants/ murmurs/ uses sprechgesang through much of it, and there’s shades of breakthrough hit ‘Up And Comer’ with its frantic scramble of barely concealed fury on ‘Need’. Her guitar-crunching riffs, alongside new guitarist Zac Stephenson, bring the requisite fuzz. But it’s the hazy sexiness reminiscent of Kevin Shields and Bilinda Butcher’s blended vocals, circa Isn’t Anything, on the dreampop of ‘Better’ , which points towards a sense of new experimentation. It’s gorgeous, a winning marriage of noise and swooning melody. Closer ‘Desire’ flirts with an Ennio Morricone twang, also a welcome volte-face. More moments like these are a signpost of greater things to come from a band finding their feet amid the piledriving, lesser indie acts who are tailor-made for Steve Lamacq’s unadventurous teatime playlists. All to the good, then. Bring on the third album.