I have witnessed several performances by this supergroup and have never failed to be thrilled by their acerbic, catchy and viciously hilarious pop songs. Harry Howard was a member of Crime and the City Solution and These Immortal Souls, both criminally underrated and both featuring his late brother Rowland, subject of the recent Autoluminescent documentary.

Dave Graney (bass) and Clare Moore (drums) are the NDE engine room, but the nucleus of the group is Howard, who sings and plays wonderfully angular guitar, and Edwina Preston, who, as well as singing, plays organ and stylophone in a manner that is nothing short of inspired (check out ‘Blood Test’ if you need convincing). Preston and Howard are perfect complementary foils for one another on duets about wanting to shoot your lover, being sick and/or dead, having blood tests, and shoes – old shoes, new shoes, size 9 shoes – three songs about shoes.

But Near Death Experience is no jaunty walk in the park: sardonic humour is employed as a vehicle for the brutally honest articulation of pain, suffering and mortality. Simultaneously, it abounds with warmly articulated grit, cracking riffs, irresistible tunes, and even a few distorto wig-outs and some disco stylings. Not possible to ask more of a record, really.

Lisa MacKinney is from Readings Carlton