Story by Matt Kivel

The Verve are back and Richard Ashcroft wants everybody to feel his pain all over again. After spending the past decade eviscerating his inner demons through an increasingly clumsy set of solo albums, the Verve frontman is, once again, plumbing his soul for the emotional pain that pervaded every lyric on the band's three studio albums. "Love is Noise" finds Ashcroft reprising the role of scorned lover, a point of view he has successfully explored many times in the past.

But whereas the bitter melancholia of 1996's "History" was tempered by Ashcroft's gut-wrenching imagery ("The bed ain't made / It's filled full of hope / I've got a skin full of dope") we are now left with large, sweeping cliches that don't seem to go anywhere ("I was blind / didn't see / what was here / inside me / I was lost / insecure / I felt like the road was way too long"). Musically, the band sticks to the grand, rock 'n' roll assault of their 1998 classic "Urban Hymns," but they never really open up or let guitarist Nick McCabe unleash his considerable chops. There is also a fairly annoying "ah oh" chant that's looped throughout the entire track.

The most interesting part of "Love Is Noise" is the bleeping synthesizer that enters in towards the end - it has a Kraftwerk, "Computer World"-era vibe that nicely morphs the sonic landscape. Also, be on the look out for McCabe's watery descending guitar riff, a blatant nod to John Squire of The Stone Roses.

Myspace stream: "Love is Noise"

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"The Drugs Don't Work" Live on Later With Jools Holland (Nov 1997)