A triumphant recasting, Always Ascending is as exuberant as it is euphoric, bursting with fresh ideas born of what Alex Kapranos calls “aggressive sonic experimentation.”

With the help of producer Philippe Zdar (Cassius, Phoenix, Beastie Boys), Kapranos and co. have taken a knife to their old canvas, producing an album that is so foreign in its familiarity it could only be current.

A sound the singer refers to as “simultaneously futuristic and naturalistic.”