Released in the spring of 2001, Lido, the quirky debut LP from Brighton residents Clearlake, met with a fair amount of critical slathering but had been all but forgotten come the end of best of lists.

Since then, their skewed brand of pop has so far failed to reach to a wide audience, follow up album Cedars appealing to the same receptive souls who lauded their debut but few others.

Now spawning LP number three Amber, all that may be about to change.

Re-emerging rejuvenated following a three-year hiatus, they have adopted a more muscular sound, crediting, among others, Queens of the Stone Age as being a fresh influence.

The distorted, driving guitar riff that announces album opener No Kind of Life accurately presages the band's minor change in direction.

That is not to say that they have entirely discarded their former traits.

Jason Pegg's typically untidy delivery as before dominates proceedings from time to time, most notably on the tender countryesque tones of Dreamt that You Died.

Nevertheless, it is the opening quartet of back-to-back melodic rockers that beguile most.

Brawny and featuring Clearlake's catchiest ever chorus, Finally Free is a radio smash in waiting and, like No Kind of Life, is graced with exquisitely layered vocals.

Neon, meanwhile, boasts both their career-heaviest guitar riff (of the kind that Matt Bellamy strives to deliver) and a memorably bluesy harmonica lick of which The Stones would be rightly proud.

Rat-tat-tat percussion, feedback and rugged axe-work - it's as though Clearlake have all along been this closet rock outfit moonlighting as sensitive indie kids. Well, the masks are truly off now.

Released January 16, 2006.

Stephen Gilliver