ERASURE first entered the spotlight almost three decades ago. I know because I remember seeing them perform for a kids’ TV programme at a theme park I was holidaying near as a youngster.

The Violet Flame is the band’s 16th album, but retains the hallmarks of their early work, while clearly benefiting from their greater musical experiences.

Synthesised pop from Vince Clarke, utilising Andy Bell’s vocal range to the full, the innocence of early work replaced by an understandably more mature approach.

It’s still sugary fare, the kind that threatens at times to become infectious in a guilty pleasure kind of way and who doesn’t need a bit of that now and then.

Matt Westcott