Ragged needn’t mean tatty, as deliberate rawness can be a potent flavour in a band’s taste, especially when there’s such sweet pop amid the cacophonous whole.

Artefacts For Space Travel are a three-piece whose influences probably aren’t so wide or broad – there’s a chugga-chugga vibe to most of these six tracks, and echoes of Pixies and Sonic Youth get mixed with rise-and-fall melodies aimed, perhaps not intentionally, at the mainstream. But such narrow scope is to their benefit, as awkward this rock ‘n’ roll isn’t – while the threesome kick up heavy dust throughout, never does it become so thick that pop sensibilities are obscured.

Indeed, there’s a lot of commercial potential here – ‘Recoop’ grinds along like a million songs you’ve heard before, but never treads such a similar line that familiarity leads to fuming rage. The vocals – weirdly detached from the confident musicianship in their nervousness – sit atop the mix as a prominent facet, but never do they become all you hear, something that to these ears has proved an obstacle in the enjoyment of Arctic Monkeys.

Who are, as it happens, a decent act of reference – Artefacts For Space Travel have their artsy influences as per the Sheffield outfit – their name is lifted from a William Burroughs story – but they sure know their way with a decent hook or some. ‘Spider’ picks up where ‘Recoop’ left off – a sing-along in the making just waiting for an audience big enough to lift it from obscurity. It winds and writhes, but never breaks its solid melodic backbone. Elsewhere they recall the best moments of The Horrors – no bad thing at all in this book.

Easy to tap a toe to, and certainly a record to infect the senses given sufficient exposure, ‘Power Of The Brain’ is a neat package showcasing a new band with no little potential. A dose of spit and polish to clean up the occasional lapses in consistency and they’d be Zane Lowe’s favourite new band… if such a thought doesn’t actually terrify the lads, that is.