It's no secret that we're big fans of Le Galaxie here at entertainment.ie - the most excellent Laserdisc Nights II fought off some very tough competition to earn its rightful place in the top 5 of our 'Albums of 2011' list, making it the highest-placing Irish offering. The epitome of a slow-burning success story from their early EPs onwards to their live evolution, Le Galaxie's much-heralded debut proved a big success for the band, and in turn afforded their on-stage antics the opportunity to scale dizzying new heights with high-profile support slots and some legendary festival gigs. They ignited a fire at Electric Picnic last summer and let it roar at full blaze at Forbidden Fruit this summer, more than holding their own against a bill of carefully curated international heavyweights over that June bank holiday weekend, thanks in part to some attention-seeking new tracks which upped their momentum significantly. And now, they're ours for keeps in the form of the Fade 2 Forever EP.

A YouTube teaser gave us a 60 second taste of 'Love System' back in April, with a vocal guest in the form of Elaine Mai. The track opens the Fade 2 Forever EP in style - a dreamy adventure in electro synth-pop, verses floating by before accelerating towards a glorious percussion-free midsection, before racing towards a thrilling finish. Mai's vocals don't outshine the music, nor do the musical layers overshadow her talents - instead, both combine in perfect harmony to make 'Love System' a most infectious summer jam (if only we had the weather to match it!) 'The Nightcaller' has been doing the live rounds for some time now, and the polished studio product is again aided by but not defined by some ace guest vocals, this time courtesy of Laura Smyth. You know that song at the dodgy disco you went to in your youth that used to make the place go wild? Well, this is it, reincarnated, but oh so much better. Basically, if you don't feel the need to furiously fist-pump at the 2'25'' then this EP is probably not for you.

Ever-charismatic front-fella Michael Pope is more than capable of holding a note himself, of course - the effects-laden baritones of 'Heart 2 Heart' are certainly unique, extra creativity points for equating the act of shedding tears to 'crying megabytes, the data in your eyes'. 'Heat City' is an epic cosmic belter of a tune, moving at a blistering pace; before the sprawling gradual build of 'Gotta Go' brings it all to a close like the end-credits soundtrack to a sci-fi classic that never came to be - no strangers to allowing their obscure pop culture-laden personal tastes infiltrate their sound, this one is Le Galaxie to a tee. Fade 2 Forever is a brilliantly themed and styled EP which is testament to the reputation they've worked so hard to build for themselves, and further cements them as one of Ireland's most exciting bands - miss it, and miss out.