Maximo Park - The National Health

Of all the bands that have 'been away for a while', Maximo Park were always one of the ones we were holding the most hopes for. Back when we were angsty teenagers polishing off our GCSEs, we were obsessed with them - tracks like Our Velocity became those magical 'soundtrack to your life' moments that get indelibly ingrained alongside all your formative memories. And now they've returned, at long last, with new album The National Health, and the title track is a bit of a treat - a real storming reaffirmation of the band's core values

2009's Quicken The Heart, while still a perfectly good album, felt nowhere near as vital or 'alive' as the band's first two platinum-selling efforts. Praise must be afforded to The National Health then, for catapulting the band firmly back into everything that made us fall in love with them in the first place - it's snappy, it's energised, and most importantly, it's bloody good.

Maximo Park are back, and we're loving it.

The National Health is released on the 11th June.

Jimmy And The Sounds - Little Victories

Four-piece Jimmy and the Sounds have been making a bit of a name for themselves recently, supporting the likes of Maximo Park and British Sea Power at festival dates across the UK. And now comes new single Little Victories; a big, joyous slice of good, old fashioned Brit-Pop. The verses are very Doves whereas the choruses tend more towards recent indie trends, carrying with them the swagger and impassioned vocals of bands like The Enemy. It's radio friendly to the max, the kind of track that Radio 1 would eat up - yet with the punch and an edge of roughness that lets it stand up in its own right too. With songs like these, Jimmy and the Sounds aren't content to merely slot neatly alongside their contemporaries, they're here to stand out from the crowd, to mark their own place out in the swirling seas of indie rock.

Part of the charm is the emotion - so often bands will rush through the motions with tracks that are hollow and dry. But Little Victories is brimming with a radiance of emotion and feeling; it's a song all about taking chances and living each day to its full. Hailing from the North East, the band carry every inch of their heritage with them. This is about hard work and talent winning out against hardship; big and anthemic, it seem ready-made to soundtrack the festival season... or Match of the Day. Either way, it's exactly the kind of track to inject some much needed passion and pop sensibility into the tired indie market.

Little Victories is released on the 30th May.