"No one ever said to me that I should write a symphony", sings Alun Woodward over "Get Action!". But, through their previous two albums (The Great Eastern and Hate), The Delgados sailed ever further into a blustery squall of epic orchestration. Less sturm und drang than strum and jangle, Universal Audio is a more focused confection-"Everybody Come Down" and "Girls Of Valour" have the honeyed harmonies and citric tang of The Beach Boys filtered through XTC. There's the odd lapse into melancholy indie-rock ordinaire, but at their best they seem like a band newly inspired by the possibilities of simplicity.

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