We have to come to terms with the fact
that Idlewild aren’t spiky Scottish post-punk-poppers
anymore. They are grown-up craftsmen of disenfranchised indie
power ballads, and we can either accept them as such or just
sod off altogether.
With two new band members, some surprisingly fashionable
haircuts and a fresh album, Warnings/Promises, on
the horizon, Idlewild are a safe bet for some decent chart
action this year. They may have dismayed their fanbase with
their increasingly AOR sounds, but not enough to have driven
them away. And once we accept that we will never see the band
return to Captain-era racket-mongering, we can realise
that a radio friendly sad-singalong like this is still going
to knock ten shades of shit out of anything else that gets
on the Radio One playlist.
Because Roddy Woomble may be aping REM’s Michael Stipe
to a ridiculous degree, but he still has a killer way with
a melody and his lyrical skills have never fallen far from
being bloody brilliant. Idlewild’s musical backdrop
may be feeling increasingly safe in recent years, but with
Woomble at the helm things are never likely to stray towards
blandness.
The problem with last album The Remote Part wasn’t
the softer stuff, like "American English” or “You
Held The World In Your Arms”, because those songs were
great. The problem was that the louder stuff wasn’t
convincing anymore, and compared to earlier shouty classics
like “I Am A Message” or "Everyone Says That
You’re So Fragile” they just sounded far too forced.
If this new album sees the band admit they don’t want...
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