Universal Thee – All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace

If it’s become a cliché that Scotland – a dreich outcrop sitting atop Western Europe like a soggy top hat – understands the virtues of sun-blessed and sparky guitar-driven pop like nowhere else, then the Edinburgh quintet’s second long player celebrates that stereotype unashamedly – the power-pop licks and Caledonian jangle (think Guided By Voices meets Teenage Fanclub circa Grand Prix) may not represent the most original of sonic set-ups, but there’s so much fun embedded across these ten tracks that any complaint feels moot.

Cue upbeat, catchy choruses (Hounds; forthcoming single Speaker), cute hooks and swish boy/girl harmonies (Lost at Sea; Hamlet), the twin guitars buzzing away with wry determination. Neither is All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace over-polished, the album’s rough edges, lo-fi chops (on tracks such as Sail Away) and gliding naturalism adding to the wider sense of bounce. Sophisticated? Not especially. Grin-inducing? Very much so.