Michael Head and The Red Elastic Band

Static-fuzz seventies guitar riffs, cowbell and bursts of brass herald the imminent arrival of Michael Head and The Elastic Band's latest album as they release the glammed-up, Bowie and Ronson-indebted rush of "The Human Race". Aptly evoking the renewed artistic vitality of the cherished songwriter, who this year celebrated the 40th anniversary of the release of his first album with The Pale Fountains, the track came ahead of the release of the 12-track, "Loophole" album, released on Fri 17 May 2024 on Modern Sky. As much matter-of-fact documentarian of life as it passes in front of him as he is a poet and healthy, new world-conjuring fantasist, Head's work rate has accelerated to provide fans with an unprecedented two albums inside two years. With a catalogue of well-documented missteps and blameless, release-delaying mishaps dotted through his life with not only The Pale Fountains but also later, feted bands Shack and The Strands, a sense of personal and artistic equilibrium arrives at the same time as his timely suite of beautiful new songs.