FEW bands are as adept at completely freshening up their sound simply by tinkering around the edge as Tindersticks, the Nottingham outfit for whom 2016 marks 25 years in the game.

Edgy, atmospheric, sometimes unnerving and always intriguing, their music has, among other things, underpinned art-house films and backdropped seminal moments in The Sopranos.

Their 11th album, however, flips things over, with The Waiting Room’s tracks inspiring a series of short films made by assorted allies of the band. And while this might partly explain this being a more downcast, even menacing album than some of their earlier expeditions, Tindersticks’ knack of applying the sheen of assured songwriting excellence to weighty, complex and forlorn subject matter is as consistent as ever, with the clearest evidence of this coming on Second Chance Man, We Are Dreamers, Like Only Lovers Can, and Were We Once Lovers?.

An album from the mind as much as the heart, this bittersweet symphony is strangely comforting in a way it probably shouldn’t be and perhaps wasn’t intended to be.