The Xcerts - Hold On To Your Heart

Three years after There Is Only You, an album which confidently steered The Xcerts' anthemic riff-filled ship towards the busier waters of pop-rock, comes a brand new collection that steams even further towards the mainstream, yet never completely abandons the band's Scottish post-hardcore roots.

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since 2014 for Murray Macleod and crew, and Hold On To Your Heart charts the tale of lives and loves within their adopted Brighton, and reflects on relationships forged there. It opens with gentle piano in The Dark, with singer Macleod's vocals borrowing from the spirit of Foo Fighters' Best of You, and confronting ghosts of post break-up entrapment. Next comes a Springsteen-styled Daydream, which in turn sets up a full-on 80's rock journey that could easily be edited into the soundtrack of a John Hughes coming-of-age movie. The beautifully haunting Cry brings the narrative full-circle, ending a journey which began with plumbed depths but surfaces with cathartic saxophones, signalling a path with promises of positivity.