Brian Brannigan's prowess as a lyricist has been established on A Lazarus Soul's three albums to date, but their fourth sees the Dubliner in especially fine fettle. A gauzy nostalgia hangs over these songs, largely because they were recorded to tape in Brannigan's recently-closed former secondary school. The stark sean-nós intensity of Midday Class proves a stirring opener, but the band have plenty to do on the taut 1980s indiepop of Future's Not Ours and the warm jangle of Mercury Hit a High. Joe Chester's guitar work glimmers on This Divided Kingdom, while things take a turn for the experimental with Ghettoblaster. Essentially, however, the agreeable music is a conduit for Brannigan's eminently quotable lyric sheet. Alazarussoul.bandcamp.com