Big Big Train hit the right notes on A Flare On The Lens

If Alberto Brevin's contributions to 2023's Ingenious Devices compilation were an adventure in feet-finding, this year's The Likes of Us found the Italian filling David Longden 's shoes with comfortable aplomb.

On A Flare On The Lens , recorded over two nights at London's Cadogan Hall last September, it's clear he was already at home.

Flare On The Lens finds Brevin's accent-heavy, between-song patter at odds with the dramatic, unadorned purity of his singing voice, but it's an album of warmth and wonder.

Then-new songs like Love Is The Light – with the crowd carrying the vocal at the climax – and the upbeat Oblivion are greeted like old favourites, while the old favourites themselves ( East Coast Race, Victorian Brickwork , the rest) are rapturously received souvenirs of Big Big Train's ever-evolving journey. Only the Heart Of The Sunrise -referencing instrumental Drums And Brass 2023 feels like a speed bump.