2-Tone, Ska, and Bluebeat keepers of the faith THE SKAPONES return with album number four and it’s another beaut.

The North East’s finest skankalcoholics, The Skapones, return with studio number four, the maturer, more measured and yet danceable while being politically on point, ‘Ascension’. Mixing uplifting tunes with the politics of 2024 is no easy feat, yet The Skapones manage it with a seamless majesty. The opener and title track ‘Ascension’ bubbles rather than exploding into life, but the 2-Tone crossed with the hands of a kindly spirit in the sky preacher and a lovingly placed garnish of eighties new wave kicks the album off in checkered style. The spirit, delivery and style of Terry Hall swish throughout, and ‘Fading Fad’ wonderfully crisscrosses his second-best-known band and Bugsy Malone’s ‘We Could Have Been Anything’ beautifully, while ‘Conversation With The Devil’ is the anti-algorithm anthem we all need to hear. Old school footie gets its own ‘Concrete Jungle’ workout; that said, I still haven’t forgiven Willo’s beloved York City for knocking Arsenal out of the FA Cup in ‘85 and causing me nothing but a week of playground taunts and embarrassment, but yes it’s a top tune. Skanking invades the creaking knees for a galloping ‘Won’t Be Beat’ before the subtle and guile of ‘Recurring Dream’. There are stories, tales and personal experiences behind the tunes and the infectious and beautifully paced ‘Drink, Drank, Drunk’ is just a one-for-the-road reverse joy. At over seven minutes, a song called ‘Black Dog’ is exactly like you’d expect, while ‘Misery’ has that distinctive cop show opening credits from the seventies delivered with a deadpan The Fall meets The Farm Northern jab, it’s eclectic, moreish and strangely nostalgic. The Skapones have once more lifted the best bits of 2-Tone, Pop, Dub, New Wave and Britpop, wrapped it all around some wondrous brass and stuck a “skank, think and enjoy” sticker on the very blue-nose of right-wing propaganda.