Album: Delays, Everything's the Rush (Fiction)

Influenced as they are by the Manic Street Preachers, it's no great surprise that Delays should err on the side of overstatement throughout this third album – though tempering their grandiose tendencies was never likely to happen with Youth as producer.

The band's already bombastic performances are further expanded with an inflated self-regard that either overwhelms or irritates, depending on one's tolerance. Applied to the overall theme of recovery and anticipation, the result is pieces such as "Pieces", a slim idea pumped beyond its due, and "Touch Down", whose chorus asks, "I'll be calling on your radio – is anybody listening?".

But any listener may find their patience tested by the band's slim portfolio of indie strategies, and incessant repetition of flimsy hooks, as if over-familiarity might somehow breed appeal rather than contempt.

Pick of the album: 'Hooray', 'One More Lie In', 'Girl's on Fire'

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