Back when he was funny, Lenny Henry’s set used to contain a riff about how the Irish were the White Jamaicans; the laid-back party-loving Caribbean-like inhabitants of the Emerald Isle. If more evidence was needed to support Henry’s hypothesis, you need look no further than genre-straddling Dublin collective, Republic of Loose. The first single from their yet-to-be-released second album, Aagh!, sounds like the best night out you’ll ever have, resembling, as it does, a Latin American version of N*E*R*D playing in the spot where background hits foreground - as you get up all sorts of sexy shenanigans.

Or as frontman Mick Pyro has it: “Fun is a bad word I suppose, but it shouldn’t be.” “Timbaland and Missy Elliott albums have this explosive, almost spiritual will to fun. We wanted to bring the light in because that’s the vibe of the gigs.”

Approach this disc with care. Prolonged exposure to sunshine can be dangerous, after all. You have been been warned.
(4/5)