RODDY Woomble will be hitting the road with a full live band as the Idlewild frontman tours his fourth solo album, The Deluder, in March.

On the gig list is The Crescent in York on March 20, when he will be supported by rising singer-songwriter and A Modern Way label-mate Tom Joshua.

After Idlewild’s 2015 album Everything Ever Written, the Scottish indie band were set on writing and recording another album straight away, and they even started that process, but everyone’s life took over in one way or another and they decided to take a break for the time being.

Up in the Hebrides, with winter approaching, Woomble set forth on another sort of record, one that would turn into his most personal, introspective set of songs. Working mainly with Andrew Mitchell, on guitar and bass, Danny Grant, on drums and programming, and Luciano Rossi, on piano, keyboards and bass, over the winter of 2016/17 in Edinburgh, London and the Isle of Mull, he duly recorded and mixed The Deluder.

The record was produced and performed by the four of them, with contributions from other long-standing collaborators Hannah Fisher, on violin and Vocals, and Sorren Maclean on guitar.

During the course of making The Deluder, Woomble turned 40, and the emphasis we place on age, particularly moving from one decade into another, was not lost on him. "The significance is either there or not, it depends on your circumstance and how much time, thought and angst you care to put into it," he says.

He looked to two quotes, one from George Orwell, who said "At 40 a man has the face he deserves"; the other by Danish philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who noted how "the first 40 years of life give us the text: the next 30 supply the commentary".

"That certainly got me thinking," says Woomble. "The Deluder might be some sort of reaction, maybe justification, in the context of my life, my relationships, my choices, in the face of those ideas."

Among the numbers from The Deluder and Idlewld's back catalogue sure to feature will be Woomble's latest single, Jupiter, a quirky, melodic pop song that finds him in playful, surreal mood as he channels both solo Paul McCartney and cult American indie band Pavement.

"The song actually started out as something I was making up for (and with) my son, who is eight years old and quite interested in astronomy," he reveals. "Working on it with my band, who are all adults, it developed and took on a new meaning: the emphasis and hope we place in mysterious things we don’t fully understand. Constellations, planets, astrology, the secrets we keep from each other, while still aiming to keep some of the fun, irreverent nature of the original idea, both in the music and lyrics."

Tickets for Woomble's 7.30pm gig cost £15 in person from The Crescent, off Blossom Street, York, or at seetickets.com