HARD rock lovers, look away now! If you thought bands like Coldplay and Keane were sensitive, get a load of Starsailor. The Wigan four-piece take introspective soul-searching to a whole new level.

But this bunch of softly-spoken, oh-so-emotional Northern lads have sold more than three million albums since their anthemic 2001 debut Love Is Here. Now we catch them emerging from a fallow period with the best work of their careers.

And next Friday, they’ll be in town to remind us what we have been missing out on.

Despite their reputation as shrinking violets, Starsailor have kept some unexpected company since they dipped their lilly-white toes in the murky waters of the music industry.

Then, aged just 19 and straight out of college, they found themselves hurled into the world of Heavenly Recordings – friends of Primal Scream, Happy Mondays and The Charlatans.

It was the legendary rave DJ Andrew Weatherall who provided their first remix, while their second album – 2004's Silence is Easy – saw them become the last band to record with production genius and wild-haired, careless gun user Phil Spector.

Not the kind of company the likes of Snow Patrol would ever keep!

Bringing things right up to date, their new album, All The Plans (a triumphant rediscovery of the over-arching ambition and raw emotional power that made them such a special band in the first place), featured a recording session with the notorious Ronnie Wood.

Surely some mistake, you declare. But nope! It’s a strange image, I grant you, but it’s all true.

Ever get the feeling you might have got the wrong end of the stick? Still think this is music for bed-wetters? Maybe not.

The early history of Starsailor is one of breakneck success – followed by an equally rapid barrage of criticism.

“The whole thing was amazing,” laughs frontman James Walsh.

“It was like being catapulted into a world of madness. We never thought there would be any negativity towards us because for the best part of a year everything we read or heard about ourselves was incredibly positive. We were totally unprepared when the digs started coming.”

But the very things that made Love Is Here such a success were the very things that made Starsailor such an easy target.

Its openness and sensitivity, and the fact it was so out of step with everything else that was going on, were used as sticks with which to beat the band.

They quickly became seen as outdated – eclipsed by a new wave of garage guitar acts led by The Strokes and The White Stripes. And the backlash left them smarting.

“I think perhaps we got a little bit too defensive,” admits James.

“We wanted to prove people wrong. Working with Phil Spector on the second record and then making a more American sounding rock record (2005’s On The Outside) was just our way of trying to prove ourselves to our detractors.

“The new album is us realising that that was unnecessary and returning to the sound that we love and established us in the first place.”

Hence, All The Plans – an album that sounds like a band finally coming of age.

The first single Tell Me It’s Not Over is one of the finest things Starsailor have ever written. And it shows them in a more consistent and confident frame of mind.

“Before we hadn’t developed the personalities we have now,” Walsh explains.

“We were just kids from a college in Wigan who didn’t have a lot to say, except what we said in the songs. This record is the result of all the experiences we’ve been through – good and bad.

“We’re all driven and we’ve had to show courage to get this far. We’re going to continue until we’ve achieved what we'd like to.”

And who are we to argue? They’re obviously tougher than we thought Starsailor play the Oxford 02 Academy on Friday, April 3. Tickets are £16. Call 0871 2200 260 or go to www.gigsandtours.com