Titling an album is always a tricky endeavor. You don’t want to get too cute or clever with it (Weezer), or people might disregard the music entirely. But you definitely want a designation that is memorable, while ultimately encapsulating the mood and spirit of the record itself. Bradford-based seven-piece Laboratory Noise got the title absolutely letter-perfect on their stellar debut, When Sound Generates Light, as the record is simply packed with stirring, entrancing tones that give rise to a dazzling and distinctive radiance, simultaneously blinding you with its brilliance while also charming you with its subtle allure. Sure, the shoe-gaze template the band is artfully cribbing from is well-worn by now, but they bring a fresh, modern twist to the noise-pop of MBV and the like, imbuing their songs with an ethereal intensity that allows these seductive songs to soar untethered and untamed.

The album eases into things a bit with the introductory drone of ‘Mae,’ which serves as a moody warning bell to those listeners who aren’t awake or alert enough to deal with the sonic tempest of lead single ‘She Dies Screaming.’ The song is awash with swirling guitars, buzzing reverb, and a relentless low-end that effortlessly propels the track to its towering apotheosis. There is an simmering tension in the volatile melody of ‘Lost In Battles’ that is reminiscent of Mew, while ‘Tesla’ lulls you into a false sense of tranquility before erupting in an inevitable squall of feedback. Most of these tracks are slow burning whirlwinds of both sound and scope, with the album clocking in at a vast 72 minutes that feels even longer than its running time, as the songs evolve and expand repeatedly, adding an extra depth and sense of space to these already immense numbers.

‘Polara In Time Stereo’ is a perfect example of this potent formula, as the song smolders a bit before it truly catches fire, torridly scorching everything in its path amid a cacophony of spiraling guitars, ghostly vocals and a relentless rhythm. The song is so fiery and impassioned that the band (and our eardrums) needs a bit of a break, which is provided by the appropriately titled ‘Dream Sequence,’ the expansive, trancelike 15-minute centerpiece of the album. There are elements of both Spiritualized and Animal Collective layered within this spellbindingly diaphanous number, and it provides a welcome respite before the album’s mercurial second half.

‘Here, She Is Evergreen’ is quite evocative of the dreamy, capricious sound of Kevin Shields and the gang, which flows fluidly into the strident pulse of ‘Earthrise,’ a stormy number that eventually relents on the discord and gives way to a pensive, peaceful outro hinted at by its serene name. But the real gem of the second side is ‘The Value Of Experiments,’ a simply gorgeous, deeply affecting song that takes flight on an irresistibly magnetic riff and builds to a truly massive chorus that is among the best moments on an album filled with many of them.

‘Thing That Fall From The Sky’ has a confident swagger to it, aided by Kerry Ramsay’s mellifluous vocals, and sets up the end of the album well for the dramatic closer of ‘I Can Only Give You Everything,’ which takes its time before building to a stirring, vehement crescendo. The songs on When Sound Generates Light are sprawling and forceful, but have a focus and a refinement to them that belies the relative youthfulness of the band. And with an effort as consistently innovative and gratifying as this, Laboratory Noise are most assuredly a group on the rise, bound to turn their prodigious sound into much more than just a radiant blaze of lustre.