The Fat Angel Sings

Heavenly formed in 1989 from the ashes of legendary Oxford band Talulah Gosh, in which all four original members – Amelia Fletcher (vocals/guitar), Peter Momtchiloff (guitar), Rob Pursey (bass) and Mathew Fletcher (drums) – had played. Cathy Rogers joined later on keyboards/vocals. They released five singles and three albums on Sarah Records and then, after Sarah ended, a final album on Wiiija/K.

After a smattering of reunion tours over the years, indie-pop heroes Heavenly are back to save the day. On “Highway to Heavenly”, their first album in 30 years, the band that formed out of C86 mainstays Talulah Gosh slashes through a litany of hell-raising, punk-inflected anthems taking aim at the manosphere and technocrats, without forgetting the good old romantic quandaries that have always made twee-pop sing.

Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey are British indiepop royalty, having made music together for 40 years across various cultishly loved groups. But they’re best known for their ’90s-era band Heavenly, whose mix of sweet janglepop melodies and often serious lyrics was dismissively labelled “twee” by UK journalists, but embraced in the US by both the riot grrrl scene and what Beat Happening/K Records founder Calvin Johnson dubbed “The International Pop Underground.”

This is Heavenly’s first album in 30 years and it’s as lively and pointed as their ’90s material, standing confidently beside their previous albums while feeling neither like a manufactured antique nor a “hello, fellow kids” play to new fans. There are odes to Heavenly-friendly cities (“Portland Town”), witty takedowns of various strains of toxic masculinity (“Press Return,” “A Different Beat,” “Scene Stealing”), and a touching tribute to Matthew (“That Last Day”), all set to truly wonderful melodies and playful arrangements. Then there’s “Skep Wax” — also the name of Amelia and Rob’s label — which celebrates the joy of music itself: “Songs take you unexpected ways / And break your heart on every single day… Tick tock, twelve o’clock / No time for sleep / When there is still more music to be heard.” “Highway to Heavenly” isn’t Remember When.

It’s a brand-new, wonderful chapter.