When the Australian electro uprising of ’07/’08 was in full effect thanks to epochal releases from acts like Cut Copy, The Presets, Midnight Juggernauts and Pnau, some might’ve found it difficult to believe that Sydney duo Bag Raiders would ascend to the same club in a short space of time. The duo of Jack Glass and Chris Stracey were just two dudes making goofy edits and remixes in their rooms and doing raw and raucous DJ sets around Sydney every weekend. But when they released two instantly classic EPs on buddy label Bang Gang 12 Inches – first the Bag Raiders EP and then the Turbo Love pack – the pair showed themselves as the ones to watch on the local scene, equally capable of making banging dancefloor jams as they were at pulling off genuinely impressive song-writing. These guys were a glimpse at the future, and it looked blindingly bright.

Now that we’ve arrived at the release of Bag Raiders’ self-titled full length album, we can thankfully stop worrying that they might not pull it off and deliver on their potential from those two EPs. They deliver, and impressively so at that.

Having bloomed to widespread acclaim on the back of their universally-loved single Shooting Stars, Glass and Stracey repeat that winning formula throughout the LP, opting for a more vocal direction to the record, including hook-ups with friends like Giselle (Gone Away) and Dan Black (Sunlight) as well as doing some vocal turns of their own. While the volume of vocals might scare off fans of the duo’s early instrumental releases, all the vocal features are arranged immaculately, highlighting how far Bag Raiders have come with their songcraft. Must-be forthcoming single Not Over features staggeringly infectious hooks, Gone Away trades boy/girl coos and Way Back Home is already one of the most sing-along-able tunes of the year.

Wisely not overloading the record with vocal tracks, Bag Raiders scatter the album with some intoxicating instrumental tracks including the dreamy filter gem Golden Wings, the singing-synth frenzy of opener Castles In The Air and standout track Snake Charmer which is simply the best, and likely only, pan-flute club jam ever made.

While Bag Raiders manage to do a little bit of everything on their first LP outing, after multiple courses of the record one thing stands out clearly above anything else; Bag Raiders are master of perfect sound. Seriously, everything here just sounds so well done and on point. Whether it’s the throbbing, slow-jam bass of So Demanding, the no-holds barred Hacienda house of Always or the still-golden vibes of Shooting Stars, everything clicks just right. Welcome to the big show, boys, it’s been worth the wait.

Bag Raiders’ self-titled album is out now through Modular/Universal.