Athlete flex lyrical muscle at the Kasbah; Rock.

Byline: ALAN POOLE

BACK HOME after a triumphant threemonth trek round America, Athlete provide a high-profile coup for Coventry's Kasbah on Sunday.

The London quartet joined the likes of Coldplay and Snow Patrol at the platinum-selling end of the anthemic rock market when their 2005 album Tourist produced massive hits Wires and Half Light - the former winning an Ivor Novello Award for the year's best contemporary song.

And they managed the daunting task of living up to those self-imposed expectations when they unveiled follow-up Beyond the Neighbouhood at the tail end of last year - confirming front-man Joel Pott as an accomplished, admirably varied lyricist.

Recalling the official playback, Pott reveals: "We all just sat there with these huge grins on our faces, - then when they'd finished playing, we were like, 'Yes!' "This album is everything we'd hoped it would be - we're ridiculously pleased with it."

The new songs cover a wide range of subject matter.

Hurricane was prompted by a National Geographic story about the increase of typhoons on America's east coast; Best Not to Think About was conceived when Pott watched a documentary about the World Trade Centre's 'Falling Man' on September 11, 2001; This is What I Sound Like was inspired by a troubled Israeli agent in Steven Spielberg's film Munich.

In drummer Stephen Roberts's words, it's an album about "this amazing world where so many mad things keep happening".

Musically, explains bass player Carey Willetts: "We knew we wanted it to sound more 'up' and more playful, but that was as far as it went.

We decided we'd write the songs and then see what suited them. We just wanted to have fun with sounds, without any limitations.

"It was all a bit of a gamble - I was incredibly nervous about whether we were actually capable of recording and producing everything ourselves. But as soon as we'd got cracking on a few songs, it was clear we could. That was a pretty amazing feeling."

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WORLD OF INSPIRATION... Athlete bring their acclaimed brand of rock to Coventry's Kasbah on Sunday.