Tim Hughes looks forward to tonight's gig at the Carling Academy by the acclaimed masters of tortured introspection, Athlete: Athlete are not like other bands. While most groups are busy penning lyrics about relationships, wry observations on day-to-day life, or getting wasted, Athlete come from an altogether more ethereal place.

Take latest album Beyond the Neighbourhood. Forget about tales of falling in love, breaking up, or even surviving the aftermath of a night on the town. Instead we get Airport Disco - lyricist Joel Pott's vision of a future where airports are used as nightclubs because flying is banned; Second Hand Stores - a song inspired by a story he read about nature falling out of sync with itself; and The Outsiders which, as Pott puts it, "is about being English".

And the mood doesn't get any jollier.

In The Library is about "growing up and taking responsibility for yourself"; while the tragic Best Not To Think About, was written by Pott after watching a documentary about those who jumped from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

The final song is the heart-tearing This Is What I Sound Like, a track inspired by one of the Israeli agents in Spielberg's film Munich.

"It's about being confused," says Pott. "Not knowing whether you're a good or bad person, or what you're doing is right or wrong. It's really a summing up of the whole album."

The latest single is Tokyo - a cutting tale of hypocrisy and the human condition - inspired by a journey into the Japanese capital. Heavy stuff. And it is on the strength of this that the band have hit the road for a national tour, which tonight brings them to the Carling Academy Oxford.

The gig is Oxford's first chance to hear the album in all its mind-expanding glory, as well as those killer hits from Tourist, such as the dystopian Wires - named Best Contemporary Song at the Ivor Novello awards. The South East London four-piece recorded the album in the studio they built near their homes.

And it seems to have sealed their reputation as visionaries. It's a work close to perfection - and they know it. Pott recalls the time the band, buoyed by a few drinks, listened to it all the way through for the first time.

"We all just sat there with these huge grins on our faces," he says. "When they'd finished playing, we were like, 'Yes!'.

"The album is everything we'd hoped it would be. We were ridiculously pleased with it."

Lyrically, it's a roller-coaster ride, pinpointing the joys, confusions and uncertainties of living, as drummer Stephen Roberts puts it, "in this amazing world where so many mad things keep happening". But is it really as heavy as it sounds? Well, yes!

"We're tying to figure out what we think about a lot of things," says Willetts.

"From war to the environment to falling in love to dealing with death. Y'know, all the issues our generation is concerned and confused about."

Like the stomping Hurricane, inspired by the increase of typhoons of the coast of America.

"I think we're all questioning what's happening on this planet at the moment," he adds.

"Is global warming actually going to take us out? And do we really live in a world where millions march against a war and nobody in charge pays any notice?

"But it's not defeatist and its defiance runs through the album."

Athlete play the Carling Academy Oxford tonight. The show has sold out.