CJ Thorpe-Tracey

People never think of Gaga as cute. She’s been otherworldly strange, or full-on to the point of threat, or, later on, rocking her pitch-perfect untouchable widescreen diva pose. She’s always moved fast and kept her distance. But actual Gaga is cute. Especially now, parallel acting career long established, loved up long-term (to a successful tech bro, no less) and not far off her fortieth year.

It’s been six years since the previous Franz Ferdinand record, Always Ascending, with a hits collection appearing in between. Now comes `The Human Fear, only their sixth album release in a more than twenty year career.

One refreshing vogue not yet over-utilised by the more sculpted Taylors and Sabrinas is: plain musical languorousness, meets hip hop’s capacity for bloody ferocity. This gloms onto the current appetite for studied dumbness, so often exuded by in-real-life very smart artists. Into such warm, deceptive waters — where it’s hard to gauge true depth — dive the terrific Atlanta duo Coco & Clair Clair, on third album, <i>Girl</i>, which follows 2022’s <i>Sexy</i>.