Pink Cactus Café

In 2023, Manchester’s Courteeners celebrated the 15th anniversary of debut album *St. Jude*. Reflecting on indie-rock songs such as “Not Nineteen Forever” and their early-adulthood tales of yearning, frustration, joy, and misadventure, singer/guitarist Liam Fray told Apple Music “It’s good to be 18, 19, kicking against something.” However, what’s ensured Courteeners can still fill arenas after almost two decades of active service is heeding the advice of one of their biggest hits: You’re not 19 forever so you can’t keep returning to that well. Youthful bluster quickly gave way to considered introspection on 2010’s *Falcon* before the band hovered around the dance floor on *Anna* (2013) and slid gracefully onto it for 2016’s *Mapping the Rendezvous*. There’s also been a cross-pollination of post-punk and synth-pop (*Concrete Love* in 2014) and the psychedelic adventures of 2020’s *More. Again. Forever*. On the band’s seventh album, the sands shift again, this time exposing their poppiest instincts. These are songs colored with the warm tones of escapism and optimism: breezily psychedelic grooves that recall The Beta Band (opener “Sweet Surrender”), whistle-powered jaunts (the title track), and urgent guitar anthems (“Love You Any Less,” “First Name Terms”). And they’re all fitted with some of the stickiest, most uplifting hooks the Courteeners have produced. *St. Jude*’s breathless energy has inevitably dimmed over the years but it’s been replaced by the confidence the band have to do exactly as they please—and they’ve rarely sounded as bright and accomplished as they do here.