Levy’s Glorious arrives through the post minus a press release, which makes a nice change - no wasting time wading through a page of hyperbole and boring biography (born in Birmingham? Great. So what?).

So, is Glorious…erm, glorious? Well, it certainly starts off that way, quite epic in its sound and production, with a wash of synthesizers and strings before the title track kicks in with the kind of guitar motif that in the early nineties Bernard Butler could toss off in his sleep. Indeed, there are echoes of early Suede throughout with eerie use of synths, pondering piano and layered guitars.

Though rather than the wonky warbling of Brett Anderson, Levy’s voice is crisper, clearer and rooted on planet earth. There is also a strong, catchy pop sensibility at work on tracks like ‘King James’ and ‘Squeeze’. The energy doesn’t let up for the first five tracks, but even when it does dissipate slightly for the second half of the record, Glorious is never anything but a pleasure.

Matt Oakes