There are few things certain in life (apart from death and taxes of course), but regularly as the tides come in and night turns to day, every few years there’ll be a new Teenage Fanclub album. The Scottish quintet’s 13th album, Do Not Dare To Dream, fits in very cosily with the template they’ve established over the last few years.

That’s to say, that the early days of Teenage Fanclub’s noisy alt-rock are over now. Do Not Dare To Dream is another collection of ten songs featuring sunny harmonies, chiming guitars and a general warm demeanour. No alarms and no surprises, as another band of this particular vintage may have put it.

And when you’re as good at this sort of thing as Norman Blake and Raymond McGinley are, that’s no bad thing. When the opening chords of There Was You ring out, there’s a soothing air of familiarity that fits like a tight hug. It’s a folksy number about the one you love always being there for you, and you can certainly imagine couples of a certain age dubbing it ‘their song’.

As ever with Teenage Fanclub, it’s a very democratic process, with Blake and McGinley dividing the vocals and songwriting duties between them. It has to be said that, eight years after Gerard Love left the band, his presence is still missed, but the dynamic between the two is still strong. Songs like Blake’s shimmering, optimistic Day In The Sun contrast nicely with McGinley’s looser, more folky contributions such as Somewhere To Land.

The album was recorded on the remote Scottish island of Great Bernera but it sounds the complete opposite of cold and distant. It’s the sort of record you’d listen to for a bit of comfort in the dark winter hours – the band’s harmonies have an almost supernatural ability to comfort.

There are some slight quibbles about Do Not Dare To Dream though, and it’s one that long-term fans may have more than most. While there are no bad tracks on the album, there’s the nagging feeling that nothing on it quite touches the truly great TFC albums like Bandwagonesque, Grand Prix or Songs From Northern Britain. While Blake, McGinley and company are experts at this kind of sound, you do sometimes yearn for a bit of feedback or the kind of sense of exhilaration that came with Everything Flows.

As the band themselves once sang though – don’t look back. This is the sound of Teenage Fanclub settling very comfortably into their late middle-age, and sounding all the better for it. While this probably isn’t the gateway album for any new fans, it’s the sound of a band doing what they do very well indeed. In a chaotic world, it’s nice to have a musical anchor to hold us steady.