IT'S a bold move, but Leaves' long-awaited follow up to their 2002 debut Breathe opens with the brooding, epic, neo-symphonic Shakma which pretty much finds the band going through all its chops over the course of seven euphoric minutes. From its brooding piano intro to the powerhouse rock climax, it offers a masterclass in dynamics. We've already heard the album's first single, The Spell, which added a Teutonic chilliness to Leaves' palate of pasty-faced cool and it's a fair pointer to the rest of the album.

The swooping melodies that made Breathe such a pleasure are still here, but there's a new confidence at work in the sheer breadth of what Leaves are now prepared to attempt. Good Enough manages to meld early-70s Beach Boys vibes with a steely eastern European melancholy - at once tender and gritty and always tinged with a fragile tension between hope and regret.

And if you're impressed by the scale of the songs, wait til you get to the end - Should Have Seen It All is a monolithic construction of dreamtime proportions... and it uses a sample of an underground car park being blown up. There's no greater recommendation.

Nick Churchill