Idlewild - Love Steals Us From Loneliness (Parlophone)

Recently voted Scotland's third best band of all time, Idlewild are riding into the release of their fourth album, Warnings/Promises on a wave of deserved critical appreciation. Love Steals... is the opening track from said album and does much to whet appetites for what is widely tipped to be the five-piece's best ever long-player.

Showing little departure from the formula that made The Remote Part such a cracking album, Love Steals... has deep layers of guitar and bass overlaid by Roddy Woomble's familiar and distinctive voice. The lyrics are typical of Woomble's introspective, forlorn style - "My anger is a form of madness / And so I'd rather have hope than sadness" - and the chorus is a real singalong masterpiece too.

There is more consolidation than progression here, but if the rest of the album can live up to this single, then we're in for a real treat.