Something unexpected has happened to Charlie Fink. The chunky-sweatered, Yorkshire-born troubadour of 2008’s Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down has somehow become a rock star.

A year of touring can make a remarkable difference. Since a rather tepid set at last summer’s Leeds Festival, the band have become more confident in their new material – slicker, tighter, and (rather surprisingly) a bit more rock’n’roll.

They’re in decked out in three-piece suits, the drummer has had (in Charlie’s words) “an important haircut”, and Fink’s vocals are better than ever.

Old tracks have been given meatier, more anthemic new arrangements.

The ukulele of 5 Years Time has finally been replaced by guitar, and the song is all the better for it.

Give A Little Love is reinvigorated by an energetic drum part, while the more subdued album cut Wild Thing (not that Wild Thing) proves the band’s often intimate music can grow to fill large arenas.

On the whole, this more assertive sound worked perfectly, but not on early hit ‘Two Atoms in a Molecule’; using electric guitar to flesh out its finger-picked riff proved too much for the song’s delicate folk bones.

One new track, Give Me The Love Of An Orchestra, proved an unexpected highlight; cutting a perfect balance between self-conscious twee and Arcade-Fire-ish grandeur, it bodes well for the future.

In three years, the band have developed from disposable indiefolk group to razor-sharp live act. At this rate, who knows where they’ll be in ‘5 years time’?

- Tristram Fane-Saunders