Let’s get straight to it; Northern Ireland is producing some of the best music coming out of Ireland at the minute. And Drew Makes Noise is among that list with his new single.

“Boots” begins in a state of agitation and never entirely settles, which is precisely its strength. Drew Makes Noise folds psych-pop, indie rock and experimental synths into something restless and slightly disorientating. The track feels as though it is thinking aloud, following one impulse before another barges through the door. It has sonic resemblances to Editors meet Gorillaz.

At its centre is the return of feeling after emotional numbness. Andrew Wilson writes about desire, expectation and physical sensation without attempting to make the experience sound tidy or romantic. The image of a flower emerging “in the fields of anhedonia” is especially sharp, capturing the strange discomfort of discovering that something inside you is alive again. Recovery, in this song, does not arrive with a choir and a tasteful sunrise. It turns up wearing heavy boots.

There is a lot happening, and the track occasionally threatens to buckle under the weight of its own ideas yet somehow manages to find it feet, or should I say BOOTS! Wilson’s refusal to streamline everything into an obedient indie single is part of the appeal.

The production mirrors the overactive mind at the heart of the lyrics, allowing tension and momentum to pull against each other rather than forcing an easy resolution.

“Boots” sounds like Drew Makes Noise returning with renewed purpose but none of his eccentricities removed for public consumption. It is wiry, imaginative and emotionally unsettled, with enough melodic instinct beneath the experimentation to keep the chaos from becoming clutter. A strong opening step into his next run of releases.

7/10