This week's rock and pop CDs reviewed

I'll Wait for Sound Crapshoot Economics ***

Yet another Irish band to have been picked up by a major label, only to fall victim to an accountant's red marker, Director haven't allowed the grass to grow under their feet. From the release of their 2006 debut, We Thrive on Big Cities, they've pingponged their way from the upstairs of a Dublin pub to a countryside retreat in Leitrim to a home studio in LA. Such geographical perspectives and their accompanying disparate lifestyles have seeped into I'll Wait for Sound, which sounds like a deft combination of primetime Depeche Mode, surging New Order and – most crucially – a totally in-charge Director. Tracks such as Don't Think I'll Know, Sing It Without a Tuneand At What Pointneatly encapsulate the band's approach, which takes in as much pummelling as caressing. Director tour nationwide throughout May; you know what to do. Oh, one more thing: Albert Reyes's cover art, is excellent. www.directormusic.com TONY CLAYTON-LEA

Download tracks: Don't Think I'll Know, Sing It Without a Tune

If You Leave It Alone Moshi Moshi ***

Wymeswold, a small village in Leicestershire, is the hometown of underground folk-pop heroes The Wave Pictures. The trio's main selling point is clearly frontman Dave Tattersall's lyrical inventiveness. If you're looking for deep, meaningful elegies, you won't find any here. Instead, Tattersall uses his full-bodied, quivering croon to list the contents of his fridge (as heard on the title track), write a love song based around confectionery ( Strawberry Cables), and enthuse on weight loss ( Bye Bye Bumble Belly). It can all get a bit daft at times, but when those lyrics are combined with garden shed production values, breezy lo-fi acoustic guitar work, and the occasional supplementary trumpet, sax or clarinet doodle, there's something disarmingly charming about it all. www.thewavepictures. com LAUREN MURPHY

Download tracks: Too Many Questions, Nothing Can Change This Love

Flick the Vs Domino Recording Co ****

King Creosote, aka Kenny Anderson, is in characteristically scattered form on his latest musical excursion. Anderson's voice veers mercilessly from irritatingly reedy to warmly seductive, and there are frequent echoes of Feargal Sharkey in his high flying, smart-arsed lyrics, but what matters most on Flick the Vsis the musically intrepid explorations of Camels Swapped for Wivesand No Way She Exists, where Anderson swings from lonesome musings to brass-riffed poppiness, promising nothing more and nothing less than three minutes of fleeting and magical happiness. The single ( Coast on By) may hog the airplay, but it's the experimentalism of Fell an Ox, with its Eno-esque minimalism and choirboy simplicity, that lingers longest. Falling down with musical ideas, King Creosote reigns again – at least in the margins. www.kingcreosote.com SIOBHÁN LONG

Download tracks: Fell an Ox, Nothing Rings True

Fantasies Last Gang Records ***

Metric haven't done badly for a band who have remained on the outskirts of the mainstream for most of their decade-long lifespan. True, they've never have had a top 10 hit single, but these Canadian- Americans have cultivated a loyal fanbase over the years. 2005's Live It Outsaw the quartet sidestep into heavier, guitar-driven terrain, but Fantasiesmarks a return to their forte: synthesised electro-pop melodies that are cool but engaging, super-clean production lines, and Emily Haines's vibrant, sultry vocals. Songs such as the addictive Help I'm Aliveand the mesmerising glitz of Gold Guns Girlsare instantly likeable, while the zippy, bombastic closer, Stadium, Lovereveals its charms over repeated listens. This certainly isn't Metric's defining album, but it's another accessible, catchy and solid collection from a band who really should be huge. www.ilovemetric. com LAUREN MURPHY

Download tracks: Help I'm Alive, Stadium Love

Goddess Dead Daisy Records ***

Emm Gryner is Ontario-born and bred but an (almost) Irish adoptee. Her latest studio outing poses a challenge to the listener. Even after repeated listening, Goddessremains as elusive as the Scarlet Pimpernel. And still, perseverance pays off as you're treated to Gryner's throaty vocals and an almost baroque collision of cello and violin on Match. Squinting askance at the world and asking questions that make the listener shift uncomfortably, she takes a shears to love and death in equal measure. Killing Spreemixes its initially gentle harmonies and the simplest of guitar riffs with murderous intent – and more conviction than the trashiest metalheads could ever muster. Goddess is a slow burner that ultimately ignites in the most unpredictable places. www.emmgryner.com SIOBHÁN LONG

Download tracks: Note 2 Self, Match

Primary Colours XL ****

When their first album was released (and you probably couldn't name it without resorting to Google), The Horrors were better known for their hair than their sound. That won't happen this time around, and not just because the cover art features a blurry picture of the band. Primary Coloursis a dazzling, swaggering piece of work. While some will credit the metamorphosis to the presence of Portishead's Geoff Barrow in the producer's chair, he's not the one who wrote, created or played these dark, enticing, thrilling tracks. The change can probably also be credited to a lack of expectations or hype, meaning The Horrors could work out their sound, confront their demons and find some sonic breakthroughs without anyone looking over their shoulder. A track such as Do You Remembersteals the show with its crunchy, creepy menace, but their twisted, rich and hypnotic epics ( I Only Think of You, Sea Within a Sea) will also win favour. www.thehorrors.co.uk JIM CARROLL

Download tracks: Do You Remember, Sea Within a Sea, I Only Think of You

Magic Magic Self release ****

It's hard to believe that this debut album arrived without more of a song and a dance about it. After all, even half-assed fakers can rely on music-blog love to make their fortune these days. In fact, these five wide-eyed dudes from Massachusetts, so intent on making skyscraping and rabble-rousing orchestral big music, have been largely ignored both at home and away. But there's nothing unspoken about their ambition. Every song on the self-released Magic Magicreaches for the stars and damn near gets there. It's indie music in thrall to that scene's holy trinity (Arcade Fire, Flaming Lips, Radiohead), but the band find enough giddy and transcendent euphoria in the riggings to transport songs such as Sleepy Lionand Savage(where two drummers really produce the goods with high-velocity percussion) to somewhere strange, exciting and utterly irresistible. www.myspace. com/magicmagicband JIM CARROLL

Download tracks: Savage, Sleepy Lion

Let the Truth Be Told Atlantic ****

Let the Truth Be Toldhas had more than its fair share of setbacks – record company change and release schedules altered, for example. These are aspects of the music industry that can suck the life force not only out of the artist but also out of the "product". Amazingly given this history, the final album does not sound as if it has been overcooked or forced to fit into prevailing trends. Rather, Dubliner Laura Izibor has presided over a collection of songs that ooze contemporary r'n'b style without coming across as either tired or clichéd. That she sticks to a reasonably tried-and-tested formula is neither here nor there – these songs are excellent examples of how the familiar can be addressed in a variety of ways, notably through Izibor's vocal phrasings, which add authentic texture throughout, and the arrangements, which – simply put – sizzle. www.lauraizibor.com TONY CLAYTON-LEA

Download tracks: What Would you Do, I Don't Want you Back

Technicolour Health Gigantic ***

Sunnyside-up hooks, swinging harmonies and dastardly upbeat indie-pop are the stocks in trade of Brooklyn's Harlem Shakes, a band who have done the rounds in various incarnations for a couple of years. They are usually mentioned for their rollicking live show, and Technicolor Healthtransforms that energy and into a very strong, likable and boppy calling card. There are moments when it all goes a little too Vampire Bank Holiday Weekend for comfort (the Shakes have previously toured with Vampire Weekend, and there's a similar preppy jaunt to their step), but there are also plenty of moments when the band break out their own brand of Kool-Aid. Strictly Game(with a sax adding a lovely fuzzy veneer to the sound) and Sunlight, in particular will make friends and influence people. www. harlemshakes.com JIM CARROLL

Download tracks: Strictly Game, Sunlight