Idlewild

Around the time when the clock struck the year 2000, Idlewild (formed in '97) were the gnashing young rock-punks of the post-Britpop era. Then, the lads from Edinburgh moved to the Highlands for a spell and emerged with a brace of soaring, melodic singles — "You Held the World in Your Arms" and "American English" — both of which would appear on their finest album, 2002's The Remote Part. Gorgeous. The stunning evolution of Idlewild's sound becomes fully apparent in Next Steps.

Early Idlewild tracks, like the blistering "A Film for the Future" from the debut full-length album — 1998's Hope Is Important — hark back to a time when their live shows were notoriously, blissfully chaotic. Contrast that sound to gentler material like "Winter Is Blue", or the title track from front man Roddy Woomble's folky solo project, My Secret Is My Silence, and a different story emerges.

Led by Roddy Woomble, Idlewild fizzed their way into our affections at the end of the '90s on the back of rocket-fuel-injected tracks like "When I Argue I See Shapes" and "Everyone Says You're So Fragile", became legends on the touring circuit (with the likes of Placebo and the Manic Street Preachers), then set about maturing their sound . . . to immensely satisfying effect. The hints dropped on 100 Broken Windows — one of the great hidden treasures of 2000 — were picked up and nurtured to a state of power and grace with The Remote Part, perhaps the band's crowning achievement to date. And by the sound of 2007's Make Another World, Idlewild's future looks to be brave and brilliant.