Coming of age is no easy task for established musicians, and collapsing under the pressures such passage entails is not an uncommon event. I imagine it’s something along the lines of trying to survive the horrors of puberty, only with a captive audience along to heckle your every unsightly blemish and newly discovered sexual urge. In the case of Idlewild, transitioning from a band of rowdy young punks into a group of men looking to explore a subtler, more nuanced brand of rock hasn’t been an easy sell to the fickle world of fans and critics alike. So it’s to their credit that they’ve capably managed such a feat with no small amount of tact and dignity.

Make Another World, their fifth studio album, in many ways feels like the culmination of everything the band has been working towards. Stripped of the confines that came with their longtime contract to Parlophone, Idlewild have returned to the world of independents, and the results are an incredibly lean, focused record. They’ve also welcomed back Dave Eringa, the producer on both 100 Broken Windows and The Remote Part, which has no doubt helped regain some of the energy and urgency that was lacking on their last outing. As the album first cracks to life with the kinetic ‘In Competition for the Worst Time’, it’s hard not to feel as confident in their recent decisions as the band no doubt feel themselves.

That confidence is further cemented into place with the weighty thrash of ‘Everything (As it Moves)’, a song recalling the successful formula of its paranthesis sharing brother ‘(I am) What I am Not’, ably followed by ‘No Emotion’, which cultivates a post-punk swagger that would sit quite comfortably alongside the likes of Battle or Bloc Party. By the time you reach the slow burning ‘Future Works’, the moody, pop-Americana overtones of Warnings/Promises have become a distant memory, only to briefly reappear in the form of lingering horns that bridge the gap nicely into the organ toting ‘You and I are Both Away’ (two of the album’s few instances of instrumental flourishes), before returning us back to the original course.

Thoughout the proceedings, vocalist Roddy Woomble remains as fiercely poetic a frontman as ever, effortlessly commanding attention amidst the din of distorted guitars that often accompany him. While his voice may still recall hints of Michael Stipe and Morrissey, it’s long become distinctly his own instrument, and combined with his world-weary lyricism, it’s an impressive one. Equally adept are his bandmates, who show every bit of technical skill and craft that only ten years honing your art will earn you. Guitarist Rod Jones, a staple of Idlewild’s sound, plows through the album’s peaks with wreckless abandon, layering on circuitous riffs that form the backbone of many tracks. This show of force is particularly impressive on the album’s watershed moment, ‘A Ghost in the Arcade’, as his angular, glam metal lead encapsulates Woomble’s emotive plea, “Hey alibi / let me shout out your name / to explore exactly why / we throw our lives away”.

A decade into their career, and it’s apparent that Idlewild are set to maintain their position as one of the hardest working bands both in Scotland and beyond. While their varied catalog has pushed the limits of both our expectations and their abilities, Make Another World arrives as a restoration of everything that made them so appealing in the first place. And with their newfound freedom still fresh in the mix, I have no doubt the best is yet to come.