After their critically acclaimed UK Top 40 debut album, This Is Hazelville, they lost their deal to a private equity firm who thought they knew music. Their second album remains locked in the record company vaults. They lost their beloved and talented guitarist, Mario Athanasiou, to cancer. These are the sorts of things that would finish off most artists.

After their lilting last record, For Irini – written and produced to raise money for the ward on which Mario was treated – 2023 sees a welcome return with new guitarist Seb Wesson on board and a sound that is rejuvenated, elevated and fresher than ever.

Those in posession of Captain’s Trevor Horn-produced debut LP, will likely have fallen for the unmistakeable duel-vocal sound of Rik Flynn and Clare Szembek atop the sort of blissful and uplifting songs that stand them out as unique and unafraid to find their own place in indie pop’s leftfield. With influences as disparate as The Cure, Elliot Smith, Burt Bacharach, Flaming Lips, the Beach Boys and Smashing Pumpkins, theirs are inspiriting pop songs of the finest ilk, capable of lifting the stubbornest of spirits.

The band’s upcoming new album, due for released through Gentlemen Recordings, is in many respects the true sequel to that mighty debut in sound, and this first single, High Beams, is as gorgeous a track as the band have conceived, crafted to showcase Captain’s blissful, emotive and epic sound to a tee.

And, trust us, it’s exactly what the world needs in these worrisome times.