Bouts: Flow review – A comfortable feeling of familiarity

It's been said that you know a new song is a good one when you're sure you've heard it before. If that truly is the case, Bouts' By a Thread must be a really great song.

I could have sworn I heard those melodic guitar riffs, peppy drums and young-adult-style vocals in a Hollywood coming-of-age dramedy about 10 years ago. That is to say, there's a comfortable feeling of familiarity to the Dublin band's new album, Flow.

Anybody pining for 1990s and 2000s-style indie pop will find something to enjoy in the four-piece group's unfussy chord progressions, clean production and catchy hooks. Take Passing Through, a tuneful slacker-rock number, or Loves Lost Landings, Pt 2 , which evokes the zest of the uber-infectious French band Phoenix.

Flow may be low on surprises but none of its nine tracks is hard on the ear. gimmebouts.com