Lush – Blindspot EP

Twice as good as it needed to be, and a league beyond your worst fears, the Blind Spot EP shrugs aside two decades of inactivity with nary a glance backward. We know now, of course, that everyone eventually gets back in the ring. How much dignity you manage to retain: that's the tricky bit. Doubt this one at your peril because Lush return quietly on fire. The smart money was always on them having the strongest songbook of the shoegazing scene and these four diamonds crush all doubts.

The breezy Burnham Beaches aside, this is an intimate and austere set. Out of Control and Lost Boy set a course for the trim, jaggy schema of their early work – think Thoughtforms rather than Single Girl. Miki Berenyi's voice has aged unspeakably well, and Emma Anderson conjures a handful of chord sequences here that positively sing. Ostensibly love songs for underdogs, these hazy devotionals signal an undimmed hunger and a desire to continue and complete.