Not since New Order’s birth from the ashes of Joy Division has a band been able to reach the giddy heights of its much-loved predecessor. After 2005’s tumultuous final gig in Stuttgart, self-styled ‘black-wave’ outfit Lost Sounds called it quits and between them pursued a plethora of projects including Alicja-Pop, and Lover!. From the sad passing of garage-rock legend and band founder Jay Reatard, remaining members Alicja Trout, Richard Crook, and John Garland recruited bassist Johnny Valiant to form the synth-laden punk successor Sweet Knives. Initially a vehicle to revisit their prior repertoire, Trout’s hooky songcraft and infectious riffs saw Sweet Knives transcend the tag of ‘Lost Sounds reboot’ and deliver 2017’s excellent eponymous debut Sweet Knives.

Five years hasn’t dimmed their capacity for electrified, pitch-perfect garage punk. Out via FDH Records, Spritzerita is another blast of synth-laden rock which veers between the paranoid fury of Lost Sounds but also indulges in their love for breezy Kinks pop. The hard-hitters still hit hard, ‘Little Timmy’ is a whirlwind of thrash that’s driven by a nail-biting acceleration that scores the lyrical depictions of locked-up ‘special kids’ that has Reatard’s anxious presence all over it. ‘No More Reasons’ leaps straight out of Pixies’ Bossanova, a twist of surf energy raises the urgency to exhilarating peaks.

The subtle pop melodies that shine underneath are Spritzerita‘s secret weapon. The whistling synths on ‘House’ recall ’60s doo-wop albeit in a distant, haunted fashion, and ‘On a Grey Day’ Trout takes a detour into indie-jangle that wouldn’t feel out of place on the seminal C86 compilation. Masterful simplicity courses throughout the album, but particularly punches on the piquant ‘Night & Day’, a chemical reaction of pop fizz and slacker introspection which soars effortlessly into the collection of your earworms.

It took New Order a couple of albums to find their feet. Sweet Knives killed it with their first EP and continue to surpass themselves on their sophomore LP. Spritzerita is twelve tracks of expert garage punk that swings you around the room as hard as anything from Reatard.