Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
It has been six long years since Scottish superstars Idlewild unleashed their form of independent rock onto the nations that make up the British Isles, six years in which the sartorial elegance of lyrics designed to make you think harder than sitting down to an exam in which you have not read any of the corresponding works, the questions written in Latin and with only five minutes to write down a 1000 words.
Those same lyrics, the pulsating accomplished additions of grinding guitar and a beat than would drive Ginsberg to think of a poem on the spot, the same deftness of delivery that rips up the exam paper and tells you to imagine what you will because the answer will always be right, have been sorely missed. Thankfully the wait wasn’t going to go on forever and in Everything Ever Written, the tones of fierce independence, the striking heart of idyllic fury and the sentiment of the anguished all ride into town, lance and spear drawn and with those who take society for granted and who would do anything to tear it apart firmly in their sights.
The great thing about Idlewild is their unnerving ability to never quite sound the same on any of their subsequent albums, the structure, the undeniable poise and attitude is there for the asking, the simplicity of song is forever tethered and yet each album offers a slightly different insight into what vexes them politically and socially. The music may resemble other moments but the idea is constantly evolving, it shifts like the sands that lose their stream as winds blow across the bleach white grains, the stream may shift, the pattern changing but the structure and the ideal never wavers.
Tracks such as Come On Ghost, Every Little Means Trust, On Another Planet, the excellent Radium Girl and the album closer Utopia all have that delightful unending Idlewild sound but with the knowledge that six years away has not dislodged them from the heart of their audience and the desire of those who want to hear music that is thoughtful and not afraid to live in the moment.
An album that lives for the sincere and attains it without provocation or dismissal, Everything Ever Written and all that ever was and will be is safe in the hands of Idlewild.
Ian D. Hall