RoofTop Screamers’ "Blink of an Eye" has a way of unpacking itself in your mind long after the last note fades, like finding a single, unexplainable sequin on your collar hours after leaving a particularly vivid party. It struts in with this curious collision of sounds – a pinch of power pop’s bright-eyed yearning, the jagged, insistent pulse of new wave, a defiant shimmer...

Sam Ostler’s new single, “Lights,” then. It unfolds less like a sudden, intrusive glare and more like the slow, determined burn of a really good stage light finally finding its mark after a prolonged blackout. It’s pop, yes, vibrant and undeniably contemporary as advertised – clean lines, clear intentions. Yet, there’s a certain satisfying heft beneath the melodic uplift, a feeling that these notes...