Post-Coldplay going global, the world is a different place – all of a sudden, bands that preceded the ‘the new U2’ are referred to in Coldplay’s orbit. As such, the likes of Travis and Stairsailor are considered in the wake of their follower. For their third album, Starsailor have gone against the grain somewhat, amping up and kicking with a harder edge.

There’s no doubting that Starsailor’s third album On the Outside has been perfectly put together with the view being that this will be Starsailor’s break-out release. After “Four to the Floor” from Silence is Easy proved a surprise hit as a beefed-up dance remix, On the Outside features greater ‘up’ production – with the Vines, Jet, and Oasis producer Rob Schnapf brought on board that was always bound to happen.

As such, the likes of “In the Crossfire” and “Counterfeit Blood” are surprisingly aggressive, with “Faith Hope Love” guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser at the big English festivals. Despite this newfound tendency towards more insistent and venomous pacing, Starsailor still delivers power anthems like “Keep Us Together” and “This Time” and unfortunately “White Light” and the acoustic closer “Jeremiah” find them over-emoting as they did on debut Love is Here.

It’s frustrating, as On the Outside is clearly more ambitious and more interesting than anything the band have come up with in the past, and these final two tracks let the preceding nine down. There’s still a real sense that On the Outside find Starsailor moving in the right direction, but that the group simply aren’t there yet.