Everything Ash do is big: big hooks, big guitars and choruses so huge that they’re practically their own planetary systems. So it only makes sense that the Northern Irish power-pop veterans’ ninth album Ad Astra opens with their own supercharged take on Richard Strauss’ iconic tone poem “Also Sprach Zarathustra”, complete with ringing guitars and world-swallowing grandiosity that’s also faintly reminiscent of prog-rock titans Rush’s “Tom Sawyer”. But fear not: Ash haven’t gone full-prog on their devoted fanbase, as Ad Astra is the latest collection of winsome and toothy tunes following 2023’s neon-streaked Race the Night. Blur guitarist Graham Coxon joins the trio for the punchy “Fun People” and the title track’s six-string theatrics, while the spacey rock of “Deadly Love” rubs elbows with a sprightly and surprising cover of the calypso standard “Jump in the Line”—the latter serving as a reminder of Ash’s try-anything-once versatility, which remains endearing as ever.