ADRIAN THRILLS: Lady Gaga dances her way out of isolation on new album Chromatica 

LADY GAGA: Chromatica (Interscope)

Rating:

Verdict: A star is reborn

SPORTS TEAM: Deep Down Happy (Island)

Rating:

Verdict: Sounds of the suburbs 

THE MAGPIES: Tidings (Magpies Music)

Rating:

Verdict: Folk with finesse

The most devoted disco divas will always return to the clubs. 

Kylie did it in 2000 with Light Years and Madonna followed suit five years later with one of the best albums of her career in Confessions On A Dancefloor.

Now it’s Lady Gaga’s turn. Since breaking through 12 years ago with Just Dance, pop’s most eccentric star has explored theatrical rock, made a jazz album with Tony Bennett and been nominated for an acting Oscar for her performance in A Star Is Born.

But dance music remains closest to her heart. It was in the clubs of New York’s Lower East Side that the Italian-American singer born Stefani Germanotta first stumbled on a musical identity, and she sounds refreshed as she pays homage to her roots on her delayed sixth album Chromatica.

As is often the case with the gimmick-loving Gaga, there’s a concept. Chromatica is, apparently, a fictional new planet named after a musical scale — and its sci-fi sleeve depicts Gaga as a futuristic warrior princess.

Unlike 2013’s over-thought Artpop, though, the theme is a loose one that doesn’t get in the way of our enjoyment.

There are two big-ticket duets. Ariana Grande guests on house number Rain On Me, while Gaga duets with Elton John on Sine From Above. It’s to her credit that she isn’t overshadowed by Elton’s booming voice.

But it’s her solo numbers that take the plaudits on an album without a single ballad. 

There’s nothing here quite as euphoric as 2009’s Bad Romance, but the hook-heavy Stupid Love would be a Europe-wide holiday smash if trips to Mediterranean tourist resorts were still on the summer agenda. Babylon is similarly catchy, despite leaning too heavily on Madonna’s Vogue.

The songs aren’t just celebrations of bland escapism either. On her previous album, 2016’s Joanne, Gaga donned cut-off jeans and a ponytail and turned to folk, country and rock in a bid for authenticity.

Her soul-baring lyrics on Chromatica are no less personal, framing her vulnerability while also championing music as an antidote to hurt. They just happen to be accompanied by producer BloodPop’s unflagging dance rhythms. ‘Teardrops on my face, water like misery,’ she sings on Rain On Me.

Plastic Doll, co- produced by electro star Skrillex, concerns an abusive relationship. Fun Tonight initially sounds like a moan about fame until you realise it’s a subtle break-up song.

There’s a hint of bombast, with Chromatica divided into three sections, each prefaced by an orchestral interlude. The 1975 used a similar ploy on their recent fourth album. As was the case with the British band, Gaga’s symphonic intermissions disrupt the flow rather than add heft. But she’s still dancing her way triumphantly through lockdown. This album was originally due on April 10, only to be postponed because it didn’t ‘feel right’.

Gaga instead put her energy into hosting the One World: Together At Home concert, where she sang Charlie Chaplin’s Smile. Now, just as Dua Lipa did with Future Nostalgia, she has provided a buoyant soundtrack that will be servicing Friday night kitchen discos rather than packed nightclubs.

It doesn’t make Chromatica any less entertaining.

Striking a clanging chord for home-grown guitar music, emerging sextet Sports Team evoke the Britpop spirit of Pulp while throwing in nods to American punk — Iggy Pop is a fan — on a debut bristling with chaotic intent.

The band, whose members grew up in Yorkshire, Cornwall and Kent, met as students and were set for City jobs before music came calling. Deep Down Happy, all shout-along choruses and wry lyrics, justifies their change of heart.

The band satirise and celebrate suburban life. They sing of roundabouts, rhododendrons and gastro-pubs where ‘the steak is dry, the wine is weak’. Here It Comes Again gives us the sunburnt spectre of ‘a burning British neck on an August evening’. 

It’s far from groundbreaking, but singer Alex Rice is an engaging showman and drummer Al Greenwood, the only woman in the band, powers this debut along with raucous ferocity.

Another young British band facing a summer of cancelled gigs are folk ensemble The Magpies.

Originally a duo featuring singer Bella Gaffney and mandolinist Polly Bolton, they became a four-piece with the addition of cellist Sarah Smout and violinist Holly Brandon. Debut album Tidings mixes traditional jigs and original songs and is played with real energy and verve.

The folklore of their native Yorkshire informs Golden Girl, a decades-old tale of isolation in the Dales. They tackle a range of styles, too.

Bolton’s bouzouki adds a Balkan flavour while Americana star Gillian Welch’s Rock Of Ages is covered with poise.

Pretender Chrissie’s tribute act to Dylan

Buoyed by her hero Bob Dylan’s unexpected burst of lockdown creativity, Chrissie Hynde has taken to YouTube to post weekly tributes to the master singer-songwriter.

Working remotely with Pretenders guitarist James Walbourne, she has rifled through Dylan’s back catalogue to deliver acoustic covers of such unsung gems as 1975’s You’re A Big Girl Now and 1983’s Sweetheart Like You.

Hynde (right) has been busy on her own material, too, with new single Didn’t Want To Be This Lonely, a chunky, Bo Diddley-influenced taster for a new Pretenders album. 

Dolly Parton has also been writing and recording in quarantine. The country queen’s new single When Life Is Good Again is a nod of appreciation to key workers.

After opening with bluegrass-style mandolin, the hymn-like song builds with piano, strings and a choir.

When British-Jamaican soul singer Celeste won the Rising Star award at this year’s Brits, she would have been anticipating a hectic summer. That hasn’t materialised, but a chance encounter with Billie Eilish’s brother Finneas at the Brits ceremony in February has resulted in an enticing collaboration, with Finneas producing the smoky-voiced star’s tender new single I Can See The Change.

Reclusive Australian star Sia has also unveiled something fresh from isolation. Her latest single, Together, is a curtain-raiser to her forthcoming film, Music, and its accompanying soundtrack.

Produced by Fun’s Jack Antonoff, it already sounds like a Hollywood show-stopper in the making.

Meanwhile, Ellie Goulding’s new single Power is an R&B-tinged prelude to her forthcoming album Brightest Blue.