"Sometimes you’ve got to shake up expectations." Idlewild announce first new album in six years: listen to anthemic first single Stay Out Of Place

Idlewild have announced details of their first new album in six years. The Edinburgh quintet's self-titled tenth album will emerge on October 3 via V2 Records. And, as a preview of what's to come, the group have shared the record's first single, the anthemic Stay Out Of Place.

Commenting on the single, frontman Roddy Woomble says, "Walt Whitman was right, we do contain ‘multitudes’ – there is more than one 'us' in there – we’re choosing a voice from among the many voices. This is especially interesting in a band context, because it's not just one voice, but five voices collaborating, over time.

"We arrange the world in our own order, but sometimes you’ve got to shake up expectations and forget about the instructions - I suppose that's what I'm getting at with Stay Out Of Place. It felt like a good starting point and (re)introduction to Idlewild 2025."

Produced and mixed by guitarist Rod Jones, Idlewild was written last year at Post Electric Studios in Edinburgh and the Isle of Iona Library in the Hebrides. According to Woomble, the aim for the record was to capture "big ideas, deep uncertainties, memorable tunes."

"We’re looking back without being nostalgic," he says. "We were thinking about all the songs we’d made and the new songs we were making. For the first time we were referencing ourselves, not in a nostalgic way, in a positive, creative way, realising that we had a ‘sound’ and the songs we were writing should celebrate that. After it was all recorded and done, it felt fitting to simply title it Idlewild.

The album tracklist is:

1. Stay Out Of Place
2. Like I Had Before
3. It's Not The First Time
4. (I Can't Help) Back Then You Found Me
5. The Mirror Still
6. Make It Happen
7. I Wish I Wrote It Down
8. Permanent Colours
9. Writers Of The Present Time
10. End With Sunrise

Listen to opening track/first single Stay Out Of Place below;

Idlewild - Stay Out Of Place (visualiser) - YouTube

Watch On

Idlewild will tour the UK following the album's release, calling at:

Oct 10: Newcastle Boilershop
Oct 11: Leeds Project House
Oct 12: Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall
Oct 14: Cambridge The Junction
Oct 15: Bristol O2 Academy
Oct 17: London Koko (Sold out)
Oct 18: Manchester New Century Hall

Dec 05: Aberdeen Beach Ballroom (Sold out)
Dec 06: Dundee LiveHouse
Dec 07: Glasgow Barrowland (Sold out)

For ticket details, go here.