Chances are you’ve had it up to here with contemporary bands aping the skinny post-punk sounds of early Cure, Joy Division, Savage Republic et al. Nonetheless, we recommend you make space in the new-new-wave section of your record collection for Horrid Red’s latest LP.

Celestial Joy, out now on deluxe vinyl courtesy of Italy’s Holidays Records  – and also available to buy digitally, via Bandcamp, here – is an absolute delight, seemingly steeped in the influence of the aforementioned bands, but with an energy and darkly romantic charm all its own. It’s a notable departure from the sound of Horrid Red’s previous offerings, the excellent but sometimes suffocatingly downbeat, no-fi Empty Lungs (Holidays 12″, 2010), Pink Flowers and Silent Party (both Soft Abuse 7″s, 2011).

Originally founded as side-project by Teenage Panzerkorps‘ Edmund Xavier and Bunker Wolf, Horrid Red now counts Clay Ruby aka Burial Hex as a core member. The trio – who insist on singing in German, god bless ’em – recorded the album at Video West in San Francisco last year, with additional contributions from Nathaniel Ritter, Tim Berresheim, Carly Flies, Catholic Pat and Christine Boepple.

Holidays’ vinyl edition of Celestial Joy is limited to 400 copies; a US vinyl pressing from Terrible Records is coming soon, as is a cassette edition from Brave Mysteries. You can stream the whole album via the Bandcamp player below.