In this age of bland talent show pop stars, and ten-a-penny indie chancers, it’s a relief to have Mayo’s favourite (grand) sons, the Gallagher brothers, back doing what they do best: taking lumps out of each other in public.

During their recent appearance on BBC’s Later…With Jools Holland, new High Flying Bird and Gallic lentil enthusiast, Charlotte Marionneau, was at a loss for what to do when she wasn’t singing. Noel: “I said to her, ‘can you play the tambourine?’ She said, ‘I cannot play the tambourine.’ I said, ‘Oh right. Shaker?’ ‘Non. I can play the scissors.’ A French bird in a cape playing the scissors? It doesn’t get any better than that.” In response, Liam requested someone peel spuds on stage with him, and, in Bethnal Green, a punter showed up with a potato and peeled it. You’d be a long time waiting for this kind of sport out of Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran.

Yes, they’re wild craic altogether, and never boring. Never, that is, until you actually play one of their records. Liam shifted units with this year’s As You Were, but its contents paled significantly when pitted against the best of Oasis during his, admittedly blistering, set at the Lucan Samhain Festival. Noel has been ploughing a similarly plodding furrow since the split. The solo songs all mulched into one at his recent U2-supporting Croke Park slot, the crowd only waking up when he dipped into his old band’s bag.

A surprise to be able to report then that Who Built The Moon? is a different can of meat altogether. Belfast beat begetter David Holmes’ bagging of the producer’s chair, one hoped, would address this plod problem, but don’t take my word for it, here’s Holmes himself, “ People love Noel and they’re desperate for a really big, bold, up-tempo beast of a record – a lot of Noel's music is quite mid-tempo, this one is fun." Gallagher and Holmes spent months hanging out dipping into Holmes vast and eclectic music collection, everything up to and including “obscure French fuckin’ jazz shit”, according to Gallagher. Once they pressed record, Holmes insisted Gallagher try harder when anything sounded like either Oasis or the High Flying Birds.

A good example of this new approach is the opening ‘Fort Knox’ Gallagher expressed an appreciation for Kayne West, so Holmes encouraged him to pretend they were recording a track for the man himself. A chanting vocals, ringing alarm clock, big beat belter, it’s a distant relative of ‘Fucking In The Bushes’ by way of Primal Scream’s ‘Kill All Hippies’.

Other highlights, amongst many, include the slithery, circular guitar riff of ‘Black And White World’, the “surely that’s Clem Burke?” Blondie style drums on ‘She Taught Me How To Fly’, and the ‘Come Together’ update of ‘Be Careful What You Wish For’. Johnny Marr props up the breezy pop of ‘If Love Is The Law’, but much more interesting are ‘Interlude’ and ‘End Credits’, Frenchy instrumentals by way of Air or Zero 7 that are so Gainsbourgy, you half expect old Serge to turn up muttering something unsavoury about school girls.

Still not convinced? Have an éist to lead single ‘Holy Mountain’, a glam stomper that combines Bowie’s ‘Diamond Dogs’, The Glitter Band, Plastic Bertrand’s ‘Ça plane pour moi’ and, yes, Ricky Martin’s ‘She Bangs’. If you’re not at least slightly intrigued then you may be reading the wrong magazine.

Liam’s comment, “Psychedelic music by a beige drip is like a vegetarian trying to sell you a kebab”, is amusing, but misplaced. This is the best music Noel’s made since the days they shared a stage together, and better than a lot of that too.