Album: The Panics, Cruel Guards (Pública)

Australian quintet The Panics epitomise that rarest of qualities in today's instant-success-or-else music industry: the slow-burning act which uses years of dues-paying to establish its fanbase and its own mature sound.

Capitalising on Happy Mondays connections, The Panics have hopped between Manchester and Australia since, recording three albums culminating in this multi-award-winning effort released down under some 20 months ago. It opens impressively, with a big drum-roll heralding the sweeping string intro of "Get Us Home", a song about wanting to return to the cradle to escape life's cruel tricks. Here and in the ensuing "Ruins", where singer Joe Laffer worries whether he's become "like all the others here, a ruin in the deepest of all fears", The Panics manage to take some unusual melodic turns while remaining memorable and engaging. "Creaks" offers a blend of vaguely Celtic flavours with a delivery akin to New Order, while elsewhere the melodramatic, Morricone-esque string arrangement lends a cinematic, Calexicoid slant to the title track. Best of all, though, is the single "Don't Fight It" – already racking up soundtrack spots on TV shows such as Ugly Betty and Underbelly – with its rich brass interjections bolstering Laffer's enquiry as to "what keeps us burning when the fire is long gone?"

Download this: 'Don't Fight It', 'Get Us Home', 'Ruins'