The London indie-pop foursome lure listeners into alternative realities steeped in sci-fi with luxuriant synths and smart hooks.

Dreamy opener Distorted Light Beam comes with a pulsing electro beat as singer Dan Smith lays out the album’s central idea: “If this is real life, I’ll stick to dreaming,” he sings. “It isn’t enough to start a riot, distort the light beam until I like me.”

The album’s core inspiration is the notion of maladaptive daydreaming – a condition where people spend half their waking hours immersed in fantasies.

Smith’s fictional tech invention, Futurescape, lets users immerse themselves in virtual reality, which is this year’s big thing. You can see why the idea appeals to him.

Smith, 35, has battled shyness all of his life, with high anxiety resulting from being catapulted to fame via hits like Pompeii, Of The Night and Happier. With this album, Smith takes flight into movies, from The Matrix to the more down to earth. Cue Thelma & Louise – a joyous synth-pop “love letter to escapism”, co-written with record producer Rami Yacoub.

Smith’s fictional tech invention, Futurescape, lets users immerse themselves in virtual reality, which is this year’s big thing. You can see why the idea appeals to him.

Back To The Future, another film reference, is funkier, Shut Off The Lights veers closer to Graceland while the slower Give Me The Future recalls Phil Collins’s In The Air Tonight.

This is arguably Bastille’s strongest album since their 2013 debut Bad Blood. But I’m not sure the best way to build a future “that’s golden and bright” is to escape into fiction today. Unless you own Meta, of course.