Mac McNaughton, Journalist

The problem is, with an average length of two-and-a-half minutes apiece, every time you start to get blissfully lost in a highlight (and there are many), it ends so abruptly and moves on with the grace of a belligerent coffee thief.

Whether it’s insane quad-LP synchronisation with Zaireeka or their gummy-skull-encased USB drive, a Lips release is something you experience. The Terror, however, is something unconventionally simple (for them).

That the scope of observation is so narrow, Men Of Substance’s impact is instantly limited as much as, say, a semi-decent Christmas album.

They could have gone easy on us by slipping in a few of their slower, pretty numbers, but nay, a hundred solid minutes of pneumatic riffs and fierce political missives were delivered.

Like the Leaving Home superhero, it’s comforting to have him around.

Now if only they could finally bring themselves around for an Aussie tour...

It neither breaks molds nor disappears up any art-pop orifices. But like the best pop music, it’s designed to be consumed and disposed of responsibly.

Between Places is ambitious and epic in scale and could have been a definitive Norwegian album had it not got lost in its own cloudy fjords.