Anniversaries often give cause for reflection and a chance to bask in former glories. But in releasing their 10th album three decades on from forming in Edinburgh, Idlewild instead look to the future while celebrating their past. ‘Idlewild’ is a statement about where they are today by all the people they have been along the way.
They have embraced many genres over the past 30 years since emerging as a teenage punk band before their commercial 2000s peak and, most recently, embracing art rock experimentation. Touring to mark the 20th anniversary of their highest charting album, 2002’s ‘The Remote Part’, helped them reconnect with that journey and consider what came next.
‘Idlewild’ is the sound of a band confident in their own skins. As frontman Roddy Woomble says, they realised they had a ‘sound’ and wrote songs to celebrate it.
Taut and direct, clocking in at a lean 35 minutes, it is bursting with layered guitars and memorable melodic hooks that run the gamut between anthemic alt-rock and influences from Celtic folk.
But the album’s edgier moments, with crunchy, scuzzy guitars and distortion, cast back to their late ‘90s roots with the mid-album one-two punch of Make It Happen and I Wish I Wrote It Down dispelling any sense of complacency.
Lead single Stay Out of Place opens the album with the sound of raw guitars and pounding drums, while pondering poet Walt Whitman’s idea that we all contain ‘multitudes’ and choose a persona from among the many inside us. It’s fitting for a band embarking on another new chapter — memories are important but so too is the need to appreciate the moment and face the future.
Idlewild Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Tue October 14 2025 - CAMBRIDGE Junction
Wed October 15 2025 - BRISTOL O2 Academy Bristol
Fri October 17 2025 - LONDON KOKO
Sat October 18 2025 - MANCHESTER New Century
Fri December 05 2025 - ABERDEEN Beach Ballroom
Sat December 06 2025 - DUNDEE LiveHouse
Sun December 07 2025 - GLASGOW Barrowland
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