THE BLUE NILE
HIGH
CONFETTI
★★★★
If 1996’s Peace At Last differed to their first two albums by contemplating life in unexpectedly sentimental style, High – though loyal to The Blue Nile’s template – signals changes with its opening line, “She lives in a house in London”. Instead of the twilit portraits of Glasgow which first helped define their hushed synth pop, their 2004 swansong broadened their horizons, most obviously with She Saw The World’s gentle grooves and acoustic ballad Because Of Toledo, in which a former addict recalls his debauchery but awakens to life’s virtues.