Labour end 18 years of Conservative rule, the funeral of Princess Diana takes place, watched by a worldwide television audience of a billion people, and Michael Hutchence is found hanged in a Sydney hotel room. News stories from 10 years ago, but they seem just like the other day after playing Life Is Still Beautiful. That’s because the Newcastle-based bitter-sweet symphonists, The Orange Lights, have clearly been listening to Urban Hymns. On repeat.

Nothing if not perfectionists, The Lights took three years to record this, their debut album. And still they weren’t happy, putting the original June 4^th release back until September. They got it right in the end, though, with Chris Potter, who wouldn’t you Adam-and-Eve-it, treacle, produced Urban Hymns, playing his part in mixing Life Is Still Beautiful.

Before setting up Blackbird Records to release their material, a host of UK and US labels approached The Orange Lights with deals. What’s more, The Sun have name-checked them in their ‘Class of 2007’ feature. Could it be something more than entirely coincidental then that The Verve have only just now decided to reform?

(3¾/5)