From new album "Warnings/ Promises", "I Understand It" is so REM you almost do a double take. Indeed, it's so spookily close, when Roddy Woomble enters the picture, you almost think this could be a "Document"-era out-take you've unearthed. Sheesh.
Bizarrely, though, once it gets going properly, "I Understand It" is actually rather fine. It stretches out impressively, builds in a dynamic, slowburning fashion and proves categorically that the new! improved! five-man Idlewild have learnt a thing or two about songcraft in recent times. By the sounds of this, it's clear they can take on the larger halls convincingly and come out on top these days.
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So who says maturity and keeping a clear(er) head are necessarily such a bad thing? In Idlewild's case, it looks as though the days where Woomble spent most of the night writhing around the student union stage are long gone, and something far meatier has come along instead. Providing you're not just back from seeing REM, this will do very nicely for now.
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