There are few better platforms for the verbose than the press release, and the writer of the one for Enemies Like This has done his bosses proud, claiming Radio 4 have 'both streamlined and stretched their sound, they've cut the fat, trimmed the filler and focused on the meat that makes the music, not the spices that can bury it'.

Despite such a feast of words, however, this is more a disservice to the band's previous two albums - the none-too-flabby Gotham! (2001) and Stealing of a Nation (2004) - than a comment on the new one.

Enemies is characterised by expansion. From the Teardrop Explosion of Grass is Greener to the Talking Head-trip of Packing Things Up on the Scene; from the tribal This is Not a Test to the uplifting, kalimba-tinged closer As Far as the Eye Can See, everywhere you look, Radio 4 are breaking out of the strict confines of punk-funk.

The New Yorkers have enlisted producer Jagz Kooner, late of the Aloof and Sabres of Paradise, to add warmth - most evident on Everything's in Question and All in Control, 'the weirdest Radio 4 song ever', according to Anthony Roman, the band's bassist/vocalist. It's not particularly weird, but it does have a rhythmic, sunny bounce to it.

Roman says the band 'try to get into the reggae/dance-hall world [on every] record'. They shouldn't; Ascension Street is, arguably, the most contrived track here.

In the spirit of the press release, Enemies Like This succeeds by bringing something new to the (dinner) party, adding a little seasoning (and the odd spice) to a tried and tested broth, new guitarist Dave Milone leaving a fresh sonic aftertaste on a post-punk sound that remains flavour of the moment.

It's quite tasty.