Back in September's Grip, Departure Lounge's instrumental release, Jetlag Dreams, was reviewed. The general gist of the review was, whilst the instrumental mini-album was anything but pop (occupying "similar territory to that of Labradford"), the 'lounge's follow-up would be an altogether different beast.

On this second full-length album, some of that previous soundtrack-style electronic music remains: seven minute monster, "Tubular Belgians In My Goldfield", pays tribute to Mike Oldfield's masterpiece "Tubular Bells" (with Mogwai claiming partial credit too). A second five-minute instrumental is "Coke & Flakes" (Gomez meets the Beta Band in a barn for a (s)ho(w)-down). And even a third instrumental by what sounds like Sigur Ros' brass section is hidden between the last two tracks.

But, as predicted, Too Late To Die Young (Bella Union) reveals a far poppier side. Those early, hazy days of Ash are fondly recalled during opener, "Straight Line To The Kerb", whilst "What You Have Is Good" is jangly pop in the best Teenage Fanclub tradition. To further this dangerously unpredictable range of influences, honky tonk “King Kong Frown" would appeal to anyone who enjoyed Embrace's "Hooligan", "I Love You" to old-school Charlatans fans ("life is short/it must be put to good use/there's no point/i don't need any excuse") and closing track, "Animals On My Mind", rocks out in a way anyone who holds Lambchop's Nixon dear will love.

Two less successful tracks somehow made the cut: the slightly cheese-infested duet, "Over The Side" (think Drugstore/Thom Yorke, Kylie/Nick Cave and even Space/Cerys) and "Alone Again, And..." sounds like a time-wasting device. But, with those two minor flaws aside, ten masterpieces in twelve sounds fine to me.

[Grip is a magazine I write for, in case you're wondering]

Tugboat Records has a diverse roster of international bands. from Mull (Historical Society), via Duluth (Mormon Trio Low) and on to Perth (Australian folkies Sodastream), they search far and wide for great bands. In Belfast they found Desert Hearts, occasional popsters and potential saviours of controlled distortion.

The brilliant opener, "DSR" is a lesson in Joy-Division-esque angular guitar riffs and conversational non-singing and is followed by "136", a mechanical instrumental similar to Graham Coxon's Mission-of-Burma-styled solo efforts. Both "Florida Keys" and "This Is This" remind me of label-mates Ooberman - fast, obscure but ultimately poppy - the latter employing flick-of-a-switch guitar noise and Hooky-esque bass licks to great effect. "Crown" is a refrained love song ("you are everything to me...") that is desperate to become something more fierce before another stand-out track, "No More Art", never slows from its relentless, exhaustive pace, only to be overtaken and drowned-out by "(3.39)". Low's slowness echoes through "May Gold" but it repeatedly breaks out into noise-terror, as celebrated by Mogwai. A similar idea is true for female-led "a new end", where, instead of dynamics, changes in tempo provide the entertainment. Closing track, "Last Song" (clever, huh?) leaves a lasting and fair impression of a band as keen to show off their effects pedals as they are to show off their fretwork.

Let’s Get Worse is a louder, stronger, more evil version of what is regularly produced by Ballboy and fellow Belfast boys, Snow Patrol. Their sound switches regularly between garage, punk and prog-rock but always maintains its underlying Joy Division influence. And whilst a few tracks have a pop angle to them, this is made with hardened guitar-lovers and emo-kids in mind.