The U.K. blues-pop trio Band of Skulls worked with producer Nick Launay on their third studio album, Himalayan. The man who sent Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Arcade Fire over the finish line and kicked new life into Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds sends these folks into deep space, turning guitars into rocketships and singers into multitracked gods and goddesses calling from the outer rings of the galaxy. The close-tracked vocals of “Brothers and Sisters” sound like they’re setting up a hippie commune on Mars, and Emma Richardson’s ethereal spy-film vocals on “Cold Sweat” suggest she’ll be working the concierge desk as a double agent. The hard, crunchy riffs of “Asleep at the Wheel” and the sustained, ringing tones of “Nightmares” have radio domination written all over them. Even the soul ballad “I Guess I Know You Very Well” turns up the fuzzboxes nastier than ever for the choruses and ends with a rust-busting guitar solo capable of working past the most stubborn kitchen clogs.