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The second album from Liverpool’s Wave Machines has been a long time coming. So long, in fact, that it’s tempting to make a dodgy metaphor along the lines of: ‘waiting for it has been as interminable as a surfer waiting for the perfect wave on Bournemouth beach’. But that’s not actually the case. In fact, their debut album “Wave If You’re Really There” (2009) totally passed me by. So really it’s more like being on Byron Bay and missing the perfect wave because I don’t give a fuck about surfing.

However, after spending the last fortnight listening to Wave Machine’s new record, “Pollen”, I’ve discovered that I am, metaphorically, a fan of surfing after all. A low-key electro-pop album, it’s reminiscent of a less frosty Bear In Heaven or Metronomy if they decided forego the ‘Nights Out’ in favour of staying in and watching Newsnight. Apparently the delay was mostly down to ensuring quality control, with frontman Tom Bruzon admitting, “we were writing things we thought were good but, to be honest, just weren’t good enough. In terms of a progression, it just had to be better – otherwise we didn’t really see the point in making it”.

Part of that ruthlessness is attributed to producer Lexxx, who has previously worked with Björk and Goldfrapp, and not only gave them some much-needed outside perspective on what needed to be scrapped but added a nice bit of studio polish to what remained. Opening track ‘Counting Birds’ begins with a bittersweet cinematic string motif, descending like a faded Hollywood star down an ornate staircase, a theme which is then smoothly transposed into a more familiar electronic setting.

The lead single, ‘Ill Fit’, follows this warm welcome. It’s a huge pop song that sounds like Prince spraying MGMT with gallons of his purple love juice, although not quite as lurid as that might suggest – it gets in your head by worming its way in through your ears, rather than forcing itself in your face. While this is a positive criticism, you do wonder whether Wave Machines would garner greater attention if they were slightly bolder, as in all honesty some of the more chart-friendly tracks come across as slightly ineffectual.

Possibly this is because Bruzon’s vocals lack a little bit of character. Again, not necessarily a bad thing – personally I prefer his low key singing to that of Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor or Everything Everything’s Jonathan Higgs – but it does mean you’re never really gripped by the vocal parts. Which is a shame, as lyrically he covers a much more interesting range of subjects than your average frontman, from the News International scandal to the film “Moon”, via the tragic fate of the Morcambe Bay cockle-pickers in 2004.

So though the poppier moments reference huge figures like Prince and the Pet Shop Boys, Wave Machines are at their best when taking things down a notch and just sounding like themselves. The propulsive ‘Blood Will Roll’ is my personal favourite but the undulating ‘Unwound’ is similarly attractive, while ‘Gale’ gets the pulse racing with its sci-fi space-chases. As the minimal electronic fluttering of album closer ‘Sitting In A Chair Blinking” gently ebbs away, you’re left in no doubt that these guys really are gifted songwriters.

Assuming their next record takes as long to make as this one, they’ve got a fair amount of time to decide which direction they want to take next. Go balls out, make a huge pop monolith and potentially become huge? Or play to their strengths and make a slow-burn, understated classic that no one will buy apart from me. The choice is yours, gentlemen!