For most bands – Razorlight, for example – calling a song Up All Night would be the cue for much self-mythologising and boasts of druggy hedonism. The Young Knives, however, take a far more realistic view of all-night partying.

In the band’s new single, singer Henry Dartnall casts a sardonic eye over an end-of-the-party scene where everyone’s sitting around pale-faced and unsmiling, and reaches the entirely sensible conclusion: “What’s the point?”

Deflating the pretensions of “rock n’roll” with wit and self-deprecating charm: it’s a very Young Knives moment.

Brilliantly, though, Dartnall’s comic detachment is housed in a song that crackles with tightly-coiled, post-punk energy. Listen out for the bit at 1.44 where the song clicks up a gear, ratcheting up the intensity. It’s a deft trick that characterises a lot of the songs on the band’s excellent forthcoming album Superabundance, which comes out in March, preceded by Up All Night on 25 February.

Incidentally, you can download The Young Knives' chucklesome Q Sessions Podcast here.

[Myspace]