While Dublin's Hothouse Flowers have been sorely missed, they have clearly not missed a beat. Into Your Heart, their first release in ages, comes with a warmth and enthusiasm that is infectious.

The opening track "Your Love Goes On" is a jubilant celebration- both setting the tone for the disc as well as welcoming back a magical force in music. With the Dublin Gospel Choir supporting the chorus, Liam Ó Maonlaí's voice soaring above it, the track instills the hope and positivity that has always been the essence of the Flowers music. Rich Armstrong's mid-track trumpet solo is also a nice touch. It's a great track and would be the perfect choice for a single.

At their heart, the Hothouse Flowers have always been an Irish soul band. Mixing rock, folk, gospel and traditional Irish music, it has always come out as like soul- expressed with a warmth and passion, as well as an uncompromising emotional honesty that is so lacking in today's jaded industry.

Another standout track on Into Your Heart is Better Man. Opening with Ó Maonlaí's Prince-like falsetto, the track again is enhanced by the Dublin Gospel Choir. "Make me love you in a better way, keep me smiling every day, listen out to what I say, Baby you just make me feel like a better man." What other artist could attempt lines like these without trying to be ironic? Having set the tone on the album, these words come across as nothing but earnest and, of all the tracks on Into Your Heart, this one sets the theme.

The music on Into Your Heart is dynamic and repeatedly rewarding. From the haunting piano-naked dirge of "Feel Like Living, the funky chants of "Tell Me", the Van Morrison-tinged Magic Bracelets, and the chilled-out acoustics of "Santa Monica", the canvas here is wide and well-textured. The closing track is also certainly worth noting. A live take on Si Do Mhamo I, complete with a summer storm of pennywhistles and bodhran, this traditional Irish jig closes the disc with as much celebration and fanfare as it opened.

In a lot of ways, the Hothouse Flowers are the non-cartoon version of U2- playing music with an earnestness and importance, but never with self-importance. Their music is a celebration and a cause for celebration, and never has it been the case as much as on their lastest release.