Idlewild
These Wooden Ideas (Food)
Charmingly Luddite stuff, as Roddy and his fellow noble artisans break off from a hard day's whittling in their bothy to lambast everything fake and unemotional in this cruel and cynical world of ours. "It's a better way to feel/Don't be real, be postmodern", he sings and, while you could argue about whether irony is the best way of attacking ironists, there's a likeable righteousness to 'These Wooden Ideas' and its scolding of the arched-eyebrow pop mafia. The music's still essentially 'Murmur'-era REM played a bit faster, though there's more craft and - good, this - tunefulness to Idlewild these days that lifts them above the grey indie plodding of yore. Not bad.
JOHN MULVEY
NEW! For the latest music videos and backstage interviews, check out our brand new sister site, NME Video.
Comments do not always reflect the views of NME, or IPC Media, for guidelines visit our Ts & Cs page