Kicking off their fourth decade as a band, Scottish indie rock stalwarts
Travis
get back to basics with album number nine,
10 Songs
. With frontman
Fran Healey
back in primary songwriter mode, the record benefits from this singular vision, providing that familiar warmth and intimacy that has endeared them to fans since the turn of the 21st century. Heartfelt and unfettered,
provides the full range of what
can deliver, from the passionately urgent to the bleedingly sensitive. On one extreme, the driving opener "Waving at the Window" sprinkles sparkling piano atop
Dougie Payne
's urgent bass,
Andy Dunlop
's meandering guitar, and
Neil Primrose
's persistent drumming, while the scuzzy glam rock "Valentine" resurrects the spirit of the band's breakthrough single, "All I Want to Do Is Rock," hitting like
Coldplay
's "Politik" and swaggering like
Oasis
at their cockiest. Meanwhile, the red-blooded "A Ghost" rollicks with a piano-guitar stomp that injects some much-needed vigor. Otherwise,
soothes like a loving hug with midtempo cuts like the breezy soft rock gem "Butterflies" and the pastoral "All Fall Down," which could easily find itself on a
Bon Iver
or
Fleet Foxes
record. In addition to the trio of rocking standouts, the lush duet with
the Bangles
'
Susanna Hoffs
, "The Only Thing," is another highlight. Backed by swelling strings, twinkling piano, and country-kissed guitar strumming, the song sways with tenderness and longing as
Healey
and
Hoffs
intertwine their voices to magical effect. After 2016's robust but scattered
Everything at Once
, the focused
is a welcome return to their early style and one of the strongest statements in their catalog. ~ Neil Z. Yeung