Yes, U engulfs the listener in a miasma of edgy electronica and squally feedback. Clearly, when this dirty three, Tom Carylon on guitars and vocals, bassist/vocalist Conrad Standish, and Hugo Cran on drums, hit the town, they don’t paint it red; they paint it black. With this, their third album, they attain the major-label recognition their distinctive, yet familiar, sound deserves.

Forming in Melbourne, the trio divide their time between their beloved Berlin and London, or “L’Undone” as they dub it, with which they appear to enjoy a hate-hate relationship with. So far, so Nick Cave. Yet Yes, U finds Devastations as less a sum of their influences and more a band in their own right.

Trading vocals, most notably with Carylon on slight yet sublime ‘The Pest’ and Standish on ‘Rosa’, perhaps the album’s finest track although it faces intense competition for that accolade from the remaining nine songs, the two singers are more than a match for each other. If you’d ever wondered what Tindersticks would sound like if they recorded a chill-out album, fret your pretty little head no more. Be warned however: Devastations’ smoke will choke.

(4¼/5)