FIVE albums in, and the intelligent Brooklyn rockers arrive at what initially appears to be a plateau. With the departure of flamboyant keyboard player Franz Nicolay, the thinking person’s favourite global pub band abandon the piano propulsion on what is undeniably a more subtle album.

Indeed, so muted and tasteful is opener The Sweet Part Of The City that it could be a Van Morrison song. But The Hold Steady can’t keep away from their power chords for long, as next track Soft In The Centre shows.

Vocalist and songwriter Craig Finn tells less obvious stories here, and while the songs may lack the ragged, baggy brilliance of the earlier albums, The Hold Steady wouldn’t know how to make a bad album if they tried, and a number of tracks stand out here, including We Can Get Together, the obligatory Springsteen moment of Barely Breathing, the good-versus-bad yearning of Our Whole Lives, and the extended seven-minute closing track, A Slight Discomfort, which waxes almost orchestral. Persistent careful listening required.