Only a year separated the Magic Numbers' sparkling eponymous debut and 2006's misfiring Those the Brokes, which saw only one song clocking in at under four minutes and several over five. Their four-year absence since suggests a major rethink, and Björk producer Valgeir Sigurðsson and Nick Drake's strings arranger – the now late Robert Kirby – have sculpted a darker, more sumptuous sound around songs full of regrets and apologies. Amid layers of harmonies and reverb, Kirby's gossamer strings are employed to sublime effect on opener The Pulse. The lovely A Start With No Ending captures the giddy excitement of a new love, and Restless River's airbrushed poignancy is hard to deny. However, not all the songs deserve such painstaking embellishment, and several stumble while mixing 60s pop and 80s melancholy, giving The Runaway the feel of an elaborate souffle that doesn't quite rise to the occasion.