LONDON four-piece The Magic Numbers return after a four-year hiatus with their fifth album, Outsiders, and a 25-date May and June tour that visits Leeds on Tuesday and Pocklington the next night.

"The gap between albums was just natural," says band member Romeo Stodart. "Michele [his sister] made her second solo record; we did bits and pieces, toured South America and set up our new studio in Hackney, which we share with The Feeling, who own the building, an old pub that the singer [Dan Gillespie Sells] has turned into a studio."

Romeo also has been busy with production duties, making Ren Harvieu's new record in Manchester. "She had a top five album last time, when she was on Island, and had since taken time out," he says. "This new album will come out early next year and it's been a real focal point for me, alongside The Magic Numbers."

Romeo and Michele's latest Magic Numbers album with London Irish brother and sister Sean and Angela Gannon was released on their own label, Role Play Records, on May 11. Its title, Outsiders, captures the band's place in the world.

"Outsiders is how we've always felt, as a band and as people," says Romeo. "We've never really fitted in. Even when things escalated quickly for the band, and we were at some awards ceremony, we always felt like we stuck out. It was the time of indie bands like The Strokes and The Libertines – and then there we stood."

Taking this point further, Romeo adds: "I think the title came from the songs, the lyrics. We're at that point in our lives and in the band where its our fifth album and we're in a better place in our own lives. There's a different energy in the group and in our shows."

While no conscious decision was taken to refrain from looking inward, nevertheless Romeo has written "a lot of character-based songs". "It's allowed me the opportunity to play with characters like Michele and I have done on Ride Against The Wind, which we based upon a fictitious motorcycle girl gang who’ve grown tired of conforming and towing the line in their everyday lives," he says.

"I think this album is more hopeful, accepting how we are. When you start a band, music speaks to you as a form of escapism and you create a little gang, and now we've found confidence in not wanting to fit in.

"This time we wanted to be a lot more hands-on with the record, setting up our own label, doing licensing deals. We're still super-ambitious but as the time has gone by, you realise the main thing you are in control of is your art and that's a liberating feeling. You don't get downtrodden by other things."

The Magic Numbers play Leeds Brudenell Social Club on Tuesday and Pocklington Arts Centre on Wednesday, 8pm. Box office: Leeds, at brudenellsocialclub.co.uk; Pocklington, pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk or on 01759 301547.