It is incredible to think that They Might Be Giants have been walking this Earth since 1982 taking in along the way smash hit single ‘Birdhouse In Your Soul’ and platinum album ‘Flood’ before seemingly disappearing once more into eternal obscurity. Silence has been broken, however, as the band return with their 16^th studio album of yet more unusual and quirky tales and catchy choruses this time involving everything from Nanobots to a circular karate chop (I can’t help but grin widely – FLW).

They Might Be Giants absence is duly noted by the band with a knowing wink during the opening fanfare of, ‘Hi! I forgot your name, whatever’ before launching into a tale concerning combustible heads the kind, ‘I read an article all about them’ and then succeeded by the instantly infectious (what else do you expect?!) title track ‘Nanobots’ with its lovely dual-vocal opening.

There is much to take in here, as the shady mutterings of ‘Black Ops’ leaves much to ponder about, as do the songs ‘Decision Maker’ and ‘Tick’ due to their brief appearances; springing to mind the short eccentricities littered throughout the Fatima Mansions’ ‘Viva Dead Ponies’ but minus the robust intensity. ‘Sometimes A Lonely Way’ is proof that They Might be Giants can also play it straight and offers further evidence that on current form contract negotiations for album number 17 should not be too far away.

“Nothing is the same as it used to be” has a definite ring of truth about it from opening track, and real grower, ‘Too Late’. Falling between indie pop and near-indie guitar seductiveness the likes of which The Cardigans used to churn out with apparent ease, Eva & The Heartmaker has constructed an album which, on first listen, may sound familiar but with repeat listens reveals a considerable amount of hidden subtleties that simply delight the senses. Look no further than the almost soaring and Alphabeat-esque title track ‘Traces of You’ to the more electronica influenced ‘Won’t Stop Loving You’ and infectious ‘Comes Around’ for such evidence. Only ‘Holding Pattern’ sounds out of place with its acoustic delivery but is quickly forgotten due to the irresistible pull of ballad ‘Calling You’.

Criminally overlooked last year, Susanna Hoffs’ ‘Someday’ is a delightful mixture of low-key pop (‘November Sun’), slightly jaunty brass (‘Picture Me’), and filled with string-laden wonders such as ‘One Day’ and ‘All I Need’. Having recently resumed duties with The Bangles to much critical acclaim, Susanna Hoffs reveals enough depth and talent here to make this solo career a full-time project. As it stands, ‘Someday’ is a glorious album that is worthy of anyone’s attention.

‘A Hundred Nights Like This’ is a timely reminder of the kind of melancholic indie pop Neil and Tim Finn conjured up when Crowded House weren’t offering, musically, one of their more uplifting compositions. This remains an album suited to the wee small hours as lead vocalist Jon Arne Bjørnstad often sings in a hushed tone and complemented by strings and occasional faint splashes of brass instrumentation revealing a sense of longing and reflection concerning past relationships. Album opener ‘Going For A Song’ perfectly sums up the mood here, with its sense of trepidation and call for resistance when love comes to town, whereas former single ‘Romeo’ adds some bite with its tetchy guitars and cleverly-crafted lyrics eking out a wry smile during; ‘Romeo, you’re letting down the show, You’re getting awful slow boy, We’ll have to let you go, You showed such promise at the start’. As far as debut albums go, ‘A Hundred Nights Like This’ is an intriguing body of work drowning in a pool of tears as love is clearly murder.

Slightly distraught at the notion that Superfamily could change their synths for an all-out electric album consisting only of guitars, the band thankfully offer no such thing as ‘All American’ sees the band sink further into the quagmire of early eighties New Romantic pop, which is a welcome relief to the ears of FLW. In fact, Norway’s Superfamily could have supplied the soundtrack for the BBC smash hit TV drama ‘Ashes to Ashes’, with many being none the wiser as to the actual era this band inhabit.

Sure, there are nods to the band’s back catalogue with ‘Don’t Say A Single Word’ which is trademark Superfamily, but no less compelling as a result, but it is the manic delivery – reminiscent of prime era ‘Associates ‘The Affectionate Punch’ and ‘Sulk’ – of title track ‘All American’ which really arouses the senses and flexes its anxieties concerning the threat of Americanisation on a global scale.

Where this fourth effort differs from previous Superfamily releases is that the reins are slightly tightened in terms of a less-is-more approach due to the minimalist, ‘I’m On Your Side’ and more restrained, ‘Some Girls’. If anything, it’s time to transmit this ‘All American’ frequency to more distant shores so that the band can reach the stellar heights their music clearly deserves.

A welcome return for Christel Alsos with arguably her best album to date in the form of ‘Presence’. There is a more relaxed feel to the recordings but this does not mean Alsos’ emotions are any less fraught as once more she parades heart on sleeve reflecting on the remnants of relationships long since sailed. There are shades of Bristol’s Portishead on opening tracks ‘Remember It Now’ and ‘Conquer’ that adds to the ethereal qualities heard throughout,  whereas ‘Falling’ offers a slightly more upbeat tone and ‘Follow Me’ reveals its folk roots. It is left to ‘Found’, however, to literally bring this body of work emotionally to its knees as Alsos reiterates; ‘Oh, there is a place for me, Oh there is a place for me’ in an attempt at self-reassurance despite the open wounds of the vocal delivery giving the game away.