poppedmusic

Everything Ever Written

Released 16th February 2015

Words: Stuart Evans

Firstly I must start with a confession: Idlewild are my favourite band/artist in the world. They have heavily influenced my musical and written tastes in ways that I cannot thank them enough for.

That isn’t to say that this review is guaranteed to be positive (I liked Oasis once,but their output from 2001 onwards was shite really, wasn’t it? ) but this group of musicians have crafted an incredible piece of art.

I first saw Idlewild seventeen years ago, I was getting fed up of Britpop and started leaning back towards the American alt scene (Think Pavement, Gang Of Four, Fugazi, Silver Jews) and what this band presented in their debut EP Captain turned out to be exactly the noise I was looking for. Live it was a crescendo of angst and lead singer Roddy Woomble’s flailing arms and battered vocals, a wall of sound or as Melody Maker once brilliantly put it, the sound of “a flight of stairs falling down a flight of stairs”.

What followed was debut album Hope is Important; a bruising, swirling debut long player quickly backed up with ‘Scottish album of the decade’ 100 Broken Windows slowly forming nods to R.E.M especially their debut Murmur Lyrically becoming more poetical with Woomble’s vocals layering deliciously over the churning guitars of Rod Jones, it’s the most underrated album ever recorded.

Commercially, the band were at their peak with third album The Remote Part. Tours with Pearl Jam and even the odd Top Of The Pops performance saw them break through (sort of), but like all great bands the key to longevity is to produce what you want to record, not what others believe they want to hear. Warnings/Promises came next and was folk led, brilliantly written yet lacked the ‘songs for the masses’ ideal (I for one think it is up there as their best piece of work).

From then it seemed like the band were moving away from themselves, and a ‘hiatus’ was called after 2009’s fan funded release Post Electric Blues. Band and members drifted off into their own realm, some to never return to the stable.

Five years from then and Idlewild return with an album recorded and formed predominantly on the Island of Mull. What was a slow burning process has produced an album of vigour with revitalised musicians in the form of their lives.

Everything Ever Written opens with Collect yourself‘, a powerhouse of song. Jones’ signature guitar sound sounding more visceral than ever, yet there are glorious harmonies in the mix. The addition of musicians Andrew Mitchell & Lucci Rossi have taken this collections of songs to a different level, their added musicianship really strengthens the band as a unit, and when performing live it’s a stunning return.

Come on Ghost it’s a metaphorical delight. With Woomble’s lyrics echoing sentiment, mystery and water. He is up there with Michael Stipe as a lyricist of sheer talent and poetical mastery. But it isn’t just the words, the outro to this song is a flurry of instruments all colliding together in a wave of noise. It probably shouldn’t work, but it does. And then there’s the fact that the sax solo was performed by a 17 year old (nice one Sam Irvine) just adds to the impressiveness of it all.

Dylan references lean through Every Little Means Trust, a song of harmonious beauty, a reflective song of yearning. It has a Scottish sadness to it, possibly the most ‘Idlewid‘ track on the album “Every little must mean something more than enough”. Nothing That I Can Do About sounds like love lorn lost, but not sure you actually want it. It could relate to love or a referendum “even if I could, I’d only walk away”.
So Many Things To Decide has a driven bass, a focus, it hints at Neil Young and Springsteen, more metaphors and questioning ‘Ever get the feeling that I made important decisions far too late in life’

All Things Different has a conundrum of instruments, driven by the drums of Colin Netwon, trumpets, Saxophones will randomly sound in your ears, there’s even a drill going off, quite remarkable, massive credit to Jones for the production. It’s clear that while working on various solo projects whilst the band were away he has clearly honed his craft.

Jones guitar playing comes to the fore on (Use it) If You Can Use It and more specifically on the track On Another Planet, which, yearns to the days of younger selves, of a brash, youthful band, a clear nod to their past, while the title suggests they are different people now, which is true, but those who still want a moment of debauchery and 100 broken windows’ness will find solace here.

Everything Ever Written is not a ‘comeback record’ it’s certainly not a money spinner. What it actually is, turns out to be, the most brash yet contemplative, the most eclectic yet earnest album these musicians have ever recorded. It has soul, and it’s everything this band ever needed to write.

Listen to Come On Ghost here: