Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

Chasing Yesterday

(Sour Mash Records)

Even after 20 years of recorded output it remains unclear who Noel Gallagher is. A gifted 1990s scenester still riding his luck? A rocker who just wants to play long and loud? Or a clinical creator of brilliant indie pop?

Likewise it's hard to square the scabrous raconteur of the interviews with the denim-jacketed McGonagall who rhymes "sister" with "blister". There's plenty more like that on this second album from his post-Oasis five-piece ("Gonna try my best to get there/But I can't afford the bus fare" is just one example, from The Dying Of The Light) but although Gallagher's lyric-writing remains lame, his grip on melody and structure are as tight as ever.

There's real panache to Bowiesque love song The Girl With X-Ray Eyes and the album ends with the thumping Johnny Marr collaboration Ballad Of The Mighty I. However, the most intriguing track is The Right Stuff, which is all that's left of a scrapped album with veteran techno producers The Amorphous Androgynous and recalls the heavy psychedelia of Brendan Lynch's mid-1990s remixes for Paul Weller, Massive Attack and, yes, Oasis. It's hard to see Gallagher winning many new fans with Chasing Yesterday, but it will delight the old ones who don't care which box we put him in.

Barry Didcock