How's the new Hoosiers album shaping up?

The Hoosiers are back. Back. BACK! Well, nearly - their new single's pencilled in for July 26 so expect it to receive its radio premiere within the next few weeks. Anyway, as those of you who've heard the clip over on Popjustice will know, 'Choices' is a rubbery electropop thumper that's sure to do the business at T4 On The Beach, V Festival and the rest this summer.

Yesterday the band played us four more newbies from their upcoming second album, The Illusion Of Safety, and we're happy to report that 'Choices' is no one-off. 'Giddy Up' is a synthy stomper which boasts, in entirely appropriate fashion, a beat like a galloping horse; 'Glorious' is a Calvin Harris-meets-Queen affair with a key change that stays just the right side of ridiculous; and 'Unlikely Hero' is a power chord-driven anthem featuring this topical-but-slightly-confusing couplet: "My love's not an island / It's the tip of the volcano."

Best of all is the probable second single, a midtempo cut called 'Bumpy Ride' which has a hint of the Van Halen to it - it's the sort of thing you'd want to come on the radio if you were cruising down a California freeway on a sunny Summer's afternoon. In 1982. "It's gonna be a bumpy ride," frontman Irwin Sparkes sings on the chorus, "But it sure beats standing still." Amen to that!

Anyway, after The Hoosiers played us this handful of crackers, they took a bit of time to explain the thinking behind their new direction. Basically they wanted to "go electro" without sacrificing their Fully Functioning Band sound and on that level they've certainly succeeded. They've also succeeded in coming up with some tunes every bit as catchy as the stand-outs from their debut which, whatever you think of their taste for tomfoolery, is something to be applauded.