The Reytons - Love Letter To A Broken Heart (LP)

The fiercely independent Rotherham-based four-piece return with their fourth album, and it would seem that they're destined to achieve even greater things in the coming months. Having built an incredibly loyal and ever-expanding fanbase through hard work and word of mouth, the band has proven that it is quite possible to achieve greatness-and even score a number one album-without label support. This time around the band seems to have opened up their sound to create a series of songs that could quite happily get a stadium chanting its lungs out. There's plenty of taut, fired-up attack, with the likes of 'Best Night Of His Life' and 'Jukebox' leading the charge and calling to mind Fontaines D.C. at their sharpest. The chant of "we get what we want and we want what we need" at the heart of '2-4-1' seems destined to become something of an anthem in the coming months. Even when they soften their approach on the likes of 'Busker's Paradise', the band is still focused on looking at the realities of life in the declining towns and cities of the UK. The Reytons might have widened their sound, but they haven't forgotten what makes them special to their fans. A Love Letter To A Broken Town is steeped in nostalgia, working-class reality and social awareness, but most importantly it is packed with songs that pack a real punch.