An astonishingly assured debut from this Bournemouth band, who take indie rock and make it sound elegant, interesting, and seductively, arrogantly great, as if Muse covered Keane with a dash of swagger. The song Get In Line is funkier indie than the Fratellis can manage, and it isn't even down as a single yet. It would be easy to underestimate this album on first listen - is it a bit too close to heavier Keane, a smidge too much beefy-Snow Patrol? - but second and subsequent listenings reveal why Zane Lowe and Steve Lamacq have been fans for a while. Nothing on the album is as good as Get In Line, but the single Shooting Star is a great Feeder-like moment of rock, and it is accompanied by a few other great rock songs. The album is short, and the odd so-so moment quickly passes by. It's not an album that aims to appeal to the bleeding edge indie kids, for whom this album will contain far too much mainstream appeal; if you come from the other direction, however, and have been satisfied with some Coldplay but want more Fratellis mixed into it, Fractured Life's your disc.

ACE rating 8/10

Farrah are a 4-piece pop-rock band that do anthemic and jangly really well. They sound like a spitting image of Fountains of Wayne (or Weezer on a lighter day) and Teenage Fanclub. Me Too, the London band's second album, brought them some proper global success alongside the comparisons to everyone from Squeeze and XTC to Supergrass. Cut Our and Keep builds an extra level of maturity into the music - the clean-sounding rock hiding some nice edge in the lyrics, the way that Fountains of Wayne always have (although that's sometimes overdone and underjudged, as on Dumb Dumb Ditty). Cut Out and Keep gives the impression from the second song in, however, that every song was written for a reason, and written to tell a story, rather than just sound different from the previous track. That is a significant step forward for this great-sounding band.

ACE rating 7/10

The Hours' front man Ant Genn is a long-time there or thereabouts man, having spent time in Pulp, and Elastica, as well as producing Grace Jones and UNKLE. Partner Martin Slattery played keyboards in Black Grape and Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros. The two met at a Radiohead gig in 2004, and decided to give it a go together - Genn's friends clearly help. Damien Hirst helped fund the album's recording, and provided the artwork. And, when it works, as it does on Ali In The Jungle, the cleverer-than-you lyrics and clean piano-led Embrace-y sound contribute to a decent enough noise. But, it really does dwell rather too long in the same space, and on the same idea. Unlike Air Traffic, The Hours don't do anything with their piano sound - they play it pretty straight and without any real spark. And that's probably the best description of the whole thing - nasty little sub-Jarvis spite and spit lyrics, and a whole load of average songs behind them. Narcissus Road may be an apt title - the main men seem to have taken a stab at a vanity project that neither of them deserves.

ACE rating 6/10