Sometimes you have to take a step back in order to move forward. This is exactly what The Wytches have done with Talking Machine, the Brighton band's fifth studio album - and in more ways than one.

The title of the album was inspired by a book about Thomas Edison, who once called gramophones "Talking Machines". But the music itself also consciously looks back: since their formation in Peterborough in 2011, The Wytches - now consisting of Kristian Bell (vocals/guitar), Daniel Rumsey (bass), Mark Breed (keyboards/guitar) and Bhav Thaker (drums) - have always had something timeless about them. For this album, however, there was a clear goal: to conjure up sounds and influences of the past anew.

The opening title track, a driving mix of surf and garage rock, opens a portal to an earlier, more innocent era of rock'n'roll - a time when bands recorded their albums together in one room. No wonder, then, that Talking Machine - for the first time since their debut Annabel Dream Reader (2014) - was recorded in exactly this way. The album, produced by the band themselves and recorded by Luke Oldfield, relies uncompromisingly on analog techniques and captures The Wytches in all their raw, unfiltered energy. The result is a palpable purity - a very human one.