==== PARK AVE CDs: Orlando's Finest Music Emporium! ====

In fifth album The Spark, Rou, Chris Batten (bass), Rob Rolfe (drums) and Rory Clewlow (guitar) have written a soundtrack to our tumultuous world; a record for everyone who’s filled with frustration, but hasn’t lost the capacity for hope. “The spark is a new connection, a new beginning,” says Rou. “It can be short and insignificant, but it can create something so significant. The spark is that light at the end of the tunnel – when everything seems to be falling apart, but you’re able to see some sort of path out of the dark.” Produced by David Kosten (Everything Everything, Bat For Lashes), it’s Shikari’s most melodic album, invigorated by the energy they felt as a band after a sold-out 2016 arena tour, and one that will see them break beyond punk to be recognised as a great British band in a lineage spanning The Beatles via Pink Floyd and Joy Division to Blur. “We’re here to disgrace that list or be embraced into that list, I haven’t decided which yet,” Rou grins.