As veteran mock-rockers, the Fauves have left it until late in their career to discover their sensitive side, with Nervous Flashlights being easily their most emotionally fragile release to date.

The sense of humour found in the lyrics of the Fauves frontman Andrew Cox was always slightly to the left of sardonic: from the brilliant “Everybody’s Getting a Three-piece Together” to the Triple J hit “Dogs are the Best People”, the Fauves became as well known for their sarcastic take on the world as they did their catchy indie rock ‘n roll.

After getting lost in the shuffle of major labels and striking it out on their own, Nervous Flashlights certainly portrays a more melancholy side, although lifting a line from Bill Hicks for the inspiration for “I’m Jim Fix and I’m Dead Now” is vintage Fauves.

Opener “True Love Waits” is an immediate charmer, while “I Am Not Approachable” features a nice bit of fiddle. It seems that at the heart of the Fauves is a sense of romanticism that was less apparent in their earlier works, but has become more pronounced as age has not wearied them but tempered their attitudes towards life.