In pop folklore, bands were allowed three LPs to become themselves, yet the fabled third album is an increasing rarity in this low attention span epoch. So it comes as a bit of a rare treat to find that Liverpool-based boy / girl four-piece Ladytron have reached this mythical milestone with 'Witching Hour', their best album yet, and one that still fizzes and sparks with the band's own idiosyncratic charms.

Yet 'Witching Hour' is an album that reaches further than it's predecessors; warm and dense, there is a feeling of susceptible magic wrapped within it's thirteen tracks - Ladytron have finally been allowed the grace to become themselves. It's the first to give a truly rounded insight into what Helen Marnie, Mira Aroyo, Daniel Hunt and Reuben Wu, are all about. They can still make music starched and synthetic, cool and collected, but, unlike it's predecessors '604' and 'Light & Magic', at its core 'Witching Hour' is wild and unstable; a synth-pop record which rages with a new unbridled energy.

Their critically lauded 2001 debut '604' album spawned a glut of imitators obsessing over vintage synths and asymmetric haircuts, yet Ladytron always stood apart, less concerned with the superficial. Their darker late 2002 release 'Light & Magic' featuring the worldwide cult hit 'Seventeen', was toured around the globe for 12 months, selling out coast to coast in the US along the way. Returning home, they started work immediately on their new record, but spent 2004 oscillating wildly while their UK and US record labels imploded, before signing to Island Records and completing the LP in 2005. In the interim they travelled, wrote, honed and perfected.

From the euro daydreaming of '604', to the Los Angeles recorded 'Light & Magic', Ladytron's output has often been something of a travelogue. But since L&M, their travels have broadened the group beyond the aspirational nature of their earlier work. Tours to Argentina, Brazil and China, Mira heading back to her native Bulgaria, Reuben to Hong Kong and Daniel now living between Liverpool and Milan have added an extra dimension to their influences and a greater awareness of home.

There may be shoegazy shades of Young Marble Giants, early Stereolab and the Cocteau Twins within the new album, yet the references remain oblique rather than obvious and it's as much their development as a live band as their previous studio albums that informs the feel and swirling atmospheres of Witching Hour. It is the sound of an electronic band rediscovering their Leftfield indie roots, experimenting, enlarging their palette of sound. And assisted in their sonic exploration by producer Jim Abbiss (DJ Shadow, Placebo, Kasabian) - sounding all the better for it.

It is serenely beautiful at times and noisy and disturbing at others; just like all the best records should be. This is a collection of songs that will cool you down in the summer and keep you warm in those dark winter months.

Ladytron just fulfilled their potential. Prepare to fall in love with them all over again.