Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Starlight

Sophie Ellis-Bextor's new album has been a long time in the coming. But new single Starlight comes like a seal of quality, assuring that the wait will be more than worth it. With its beautiful, flowing feel and Pet Shop Boys-esque synth bassline, the song is every inch the picturesque, tranquil night-time scene its title depicts.

While perhaps not as instant as previous singles Heartbreak Make Me A Dancer and Bittersweet, the chorus holds strong and the track as a whole is musically far more intricate. Starlight holds real value for repeat listens, new treasures surfacing from the overlapping wave-like layers of its depths each time.

There's some definite New Order vibes here, as if Sophie made a conscious effort to produce Starlight as her ode to the eighties. The middle-eight in particular sounds as if it could have come straight off New Order's 1993 Republic album with its oh-so delicate touches of guitar.

Starlight is a crystaline thing of beauty, the lovely 'we found heaven in the dark' lyrics in the chorus channeling that effortless style and class that Sophie has always done so well. True pop queen glamour.

Starlight is released on the 30th May.

Laki Mera - More Than You

Glasgow band Laki Mera work like vastly intelligent synth-pop wizzards on new track More Than You, a bleepy hook leading into subtle trip-hop atmospherics. Lead singer Laura Donnelly's vocals are gentle and comforting, the perfect accompaniment to the organic quality of the music. The sounds might be electronic but they feel distinctly real, reaching out from the speakers to touch your emotions.

The spider-like, delicate strands of sound wrap themselves around you and hold you close - after only one listen More Than You will sound like an old friend. Fans of Ellie Goulding eager for more female synth magic with great choruses need look no further than Laki Mera; this is a real standout track with the power to make you stop and listen. At its heart, More Than You is a brilliant pop track; but it is also bewitching and modern; clever music to delight the mind and warm the soul.

More Than You is released on the 21st March.

Check out the band's Myspace page here.

Starlings - Weight In Gold

Starlings explode onto your stereo with a blistering blend of glossy synths, Duran Duran-esque basslines and the energy to match any of their contemporaries. Weight In Gold is a stunning debut for the Sheffield based band, the track hypnotising in its beauty and the shimmering catchiness of its chorus before tripping effortlessly into a twinkling guitar solo.

Fans of New Order and Delphic will find lots to love here, but what marks Starlings out in their own right is the organic feel to their music; it feels alive, fresh, more ‘human’. The band’s Facebook page describes them as ‘cosmic indie funk’, and there really could be no more perfect description than that. All the elements are there, capturing the essence of why Starlings hold so much potential to appeal to the masses.

There is most definitely a sense of ‘spaciness’ to there songs, that feeling of a fast expanse that their music flows into, a space of unlimited potential just waiting to be tapped into. ‘It’s a long, long way to fall, when you hover above us all’: a snatch of lyrics from the chorus, and when the Starlings sound as good as this, we’re all ready to fall further and further alongside them.

Released 20th December