Of all the bands to have survived the past two decades, Goldfrapp must be the most unlikely. The duo emerged in 2000 with Felt Mountain, the orchestrated soundtrack to a fever dream, only to return with Black Cherry, which sounded like mething Marc Bolan might have come up with had he been trapped in a fetish club.

Then came Supernature, which took glam rock, disco and Kraftwerk-style electronics and stripped them down to their cold and metallic yet sexy essence, before fan-alienating forays into pastoral folk and chanson-style balladry.

All of this from Will Gregory, a self-effacing type who looks as if he would be happiest giving lectures on the use of the crumhorn in Renaissance Europe; and Alison Goldfrapp, an army officer’s daughter from Hampshire who alternates between being cross about one thing or another in interviews to channelling the haughty glamour of Marlene Dietrich on stage. How on earth have they stayed together?

Silver Eye, their best album since Supernature, offers an answer: by going their own way. Goldfrapp have released an album that could only be described as pop, but it sounds like nothing else out there in 2017. Take Anymore, which launches the album. Basic lyrics about not being capable of waiting to satisfy lustful feelings are aligned to a stomping beat and a synthesizer melody so simple that a reasonably well-behaved monkey could play it, yet it is thrilling. Systemagic thumps along with protean urgency, but Alison Goldfrapp’s breathy way of singing about the silver eye of the moon while a synthesizer goes haywire in the background creates an intoxicating mood.

Silver Eye is also extremely silly. Goldfrapp have long followed an aesthetic and lyrical path that falls somewhere between a pagan ritual, a New York disco and a suburban swingers’ party. And while the Kate Bush moans and keyboard washes of Tigerman are pretty powerful, it is hard to be moved by a song about a man who grows fur and starts meowing at the moon. Not that silliness is anything to be afraid of, but you do wonder if Goldfrapp take this mystical malarkey too seriously.

Ultimately it doesn’t matter because Silver Eye is original, catchy and with its own strange character; everything you want from good pop. While it may not inspire you to strip off and dance naked round a flaming pentagram come the next full moon, it does make for a colourful, exciting listen.