My Top 10 Albums of 2005: #2

#2: Idlewild - Warnings/Promises
Warnings/Promises starts with Love Steals Us From Loneliness, the opening single and a great intro into Idlewild's bread-and-butter of guitars chiming in and out, lined with original off-beat lyrics in trademark Scottish vocals. The bass lines rumble up and down, the cymbals ring and lead singer Roddy reaches a crescendo with Are you lonely yet?/Are you lone-ly yeh-eh-et? The following track Welcome Home breaks out the acoustic guitar before going into a full band performance (with solo to boot) of the song for drifters. I Want A Warning belts out a powerful rock sound, with deep bass and electric guitars screaming accusations at the song's protagonist. Purely outstanding stuff.

I Understand It steps back a bit, but still keeps all the right elements. Love those lyrics of Have no sense in emptiness/Will you try a little harder? As If I Hadn't Slept is a late-night acoustic call, leading onto the squealing guitar lined Too Long Awake. I begin to wonder if sleep is a theme of the album (Goodnight closes it). They return to their old styles on Not Just Sometimes But Always, again with the acoustic, but with some added strings that add a nice touch. The Space Between All Things builds to a rocking chorus, sick guitar solo and then a smooth bass section. Here I note that this might be why I like Idlewild so much; the way they control tempo and let the vocals build, but allow each member a chance to go nuts on their instrument. El Capitan brings a strong piano line to their fundamentals with a solid but poignant effect.

The hidden gem of the album has to be Blame It On Obvious Ways. I was entranced by the opening and listened to the song constantly, probably more than any other song this year. Never before had I heard acoustic guitars used so aggressively and the effect builds when teamed with the electric guitar screeching passionately alongside it. Once again, I love the vocals and lyrics. By the end I'm just listening to all of the different layers in this artwork and I just love it all. The album winds down with a country-style slide on Disconnected and fades out with Goodnight and a soft reprise of Too Long Awake.

All in all it's craftily constructed and I enjoy the whole album as a package so much I felt compelled to do a track-by-track analysis rather than generalising their sound. Coming up next: the #1 album of the year for me. Sorry about the delay, just chalk it up to suspense!