Not prone to dressing in Horrors-black or boasting Pete Doherty-style “issues”, Travis have often found themselves in danger of being dismissed as too square by those cracking the whip at the rock’n’roll circus.

In fact, the unassuming quartet have quietly gone about their business of setting up home in people’s hearts, the lack of extracurricular distractions allowing them to concentrate on crafting the kind of anthems that don’t rely on bombast to capture a crowd.

The Boy With No Name continues this modest ambition to grand effect, the chorus of Closer (“lean on me now”) summing up their populist warmth. Selfish Jean and Big Chair show that they can work a pop song, but it is in the moments when Fran Healy’s voice conveys a grown-up sense of being small people on a big planet that these songs really shine. Whether dealing with fatherhood ( My Eyes) or relationship strife ( Battleships), it’s the musical equivalent of a comforting arm around your shoulder. It might not be deathlessly cool, but it’s certainly very welcome.

(Independiente)

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