BMX Bandits: BMX Bandits In Space

ELEFANT, £12.99

Star rating: * * * *

It cannot be said of many bands that their 16th album is one of their most cohesive and ambitious to date, but this lovingly arranged (and packaged) space pop opera is a collaborative work to be proud of, with returning Bandits Jim McCulloch and Sean Dickson, longtime associate Norman Blake and guest artists from Japan and Argentina orbiting around mainman Duglas Stewart and his twee paeans to the revitalising effects of tea and friendship.

BMX Bandits In Space is both a soothing and melancholic mix of old school classicism – which finds expression in the swooning melody of All Around The World and old time country waltz of And While We’re Dancing – and twinkling, languorous electronica, shot through with a taste for 1960s Gallic pop and retro-futuristic lounge music.

FS