Tune-Yards: Better Dreaming (digital outlets)

The classy songwriting and delivery of Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner has been one of the delights and discoveries of the past decade as they weave soul, r'n'b, funk and pop into art-pop.

But they also deliver more as on this album which, despite the sheen of the surfaces and the clever music, has something to say about these straitened times.

This from the hypnotic and elevated soul-pop of Never Look Back: “But then he said, 'One, two, three and I never look back'. But I could tell he had his fingers crossed behind his back . . . I could tell that he was telling a lie.”

On the seductive title track: “You're never gonna take my shit away.
Words that mostly men with guns can say.”

And See You There: “I'll see you sitting on the rubble, I'll see you dreaming of your streets of gold. You said I'm going to hell. Well, I'll see you there.”

No prize for guessing who these words are aimed at.

The messages come as sassy Kool gang funk (Limelight), radio pop (How Big is the Rainbow? with “You twist reality just to bring it down to your size”) and a nod back to Fifties pop and Girl Group vocals via a pumping bass (Perpetual Motion).

It may be that some of this is too musically clever for its own good as, unless you drill down to the lyrics which often float by, the politics and social observation sweeps past.

But here it is, an album of deep reflection and – in the final spoken word and desperately screaming Sanctuary – unease in the uncertain times.

The thoughtful dance music of Get Through addresses the pervading pessimism: “I want so much more than just getting by, but first . . . get through, through it all. We don't know how we get through, but we do.”

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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here