Scottish outfit Butcher Boy came to us (and a BTW stamp) via the aptly titled Profit In Your Poetry LP. That set sat comfortably under the family tree rooted by the likes of Belle & Sebatian, Tindersticks, Felt, and the Smiths, lining up shot after shot of bittersweet and literate, orchestral Glaswegian indie pop. Their forthcoming followup’s called React Or Die, and true to that titular urgency, its first sounds push the line a little further: lyricist, lead Butcher (and National Pop League stalwart) John Blain Hunt couches his love-scenic couplets in more of B&S’s bounce, but there’s a cleaner spark to the piano-and-cello-laced production and to the hook’s shifty chord changes, complex in its tune and mood. Again, bitter albeit sweet, and again, very promising.

• Butcher Boy – “Carve A Pattern”Download

React Or Die is out in the UK 4/6 via. The album will ship with a 16 page booklet and liner notes by John Blain Hunt. Here’s a tracklist:

01 “When I’m Asleep”
02 “Carve A Pattern”
03 “You’re Crying For Yourself”
04 “Anything Other Than Kind”
05 “This Kiss Will Marry Us”
06 “A Better Ghost”
07 “Clockwork”
08 “Why I Like Babies”
09 “Sunday Bells”
10 “React Or Die”

“A Better Ghost” will be the second single, out 3/23.