For bands who have been around in one form or another for 25 years, press photos are a necessary evil rather than a source of excitement. Grandaddy’s current promo shot sees the newly resuscitated Californian five-piece in an empty field, wearing hard hats as they pore over a detailed blueprint. The subtext appears to be: “Guys! We have a plan!”



They didn’t always appear so directed. After being lumped in with fellow frazzled-rock cosmonauts Mercury Rev and the Flaming Lips in the late 90s, phase one of Grandaddy spluttered to a halt in 2006 after an ill-received fourth album. Guitarist Jim Fairchild fell in with Modest Mouse, while frontman Jason Lytle relocated to a remote corner of Montana, customised a home studio and recorded a brace of a solo records.



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After a brief reunion in 2012, Grandaddy properly reconvened last year and their recent, Lytle-produced fifth album Last Place picks up where they left off. Framed by a screen looping footage of dustbowl deserts and lonely railway tracks, Lytle variously wrangles his guitar and a covetable synth, doubling up on plaintive melodies and crunchy hooks.



After a slightly wobbly start due to technical gremlins – “It might get better,” Lytle says drily – things snap into focus on The Crystal Lake, its moreish chorus underscored by the sort of roaming, arpeggiated sine waves more associated with retro games consoles. There’s a similar Nintendo wobble to the rapturously received AM 180, their early breakout hit later pressed into service as the theme tune for Charlie Brooker’s various TV Wipes.



Lytle’s plaintive, Neil Youngesque voice sells both the emotional peaks and, on new song I Don’t Wanna Live Here Anymore, the deadpan humour that has always been part of Grandaddy’s makeup. When they are firing on all cylinders, as on the booming Now It’s On, it’s a glorious, driving, taut racket. But they also let their freak flag fly with a version of He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s the Pilot that climactically unfurls over 10 minutes. The plan seems to be working.



At Hoults Yard, Newcastle (0191-607 0200), on 26 March. Then touring until 4 April.





