Slogging through the housework to Take That’s ninth album, This Life, I notice a gentle uptick in my mood. Nothing dramatic. No grand romantic swooning over the laundry basket. Just a hummable, toe-tappable companionship as the band work through their very English gripes and consolations (rainy days, lost loves, muddled plans) to the jaunty shrug of Gary Barlow’s easy-hook, mustn’t grumble melodies. “No way tomorrow is golden,” they concede on single “This Life”, like a weary co-worker popping a cuppa on your desk, but “a new day can be anything you want”.
It reminds me that whoever chose Take That to promote Marks & Spencer’s back in 2008 knew their stuff. The boy band once pelted with thongs on stage had, by then, matured nicely into a man band you’d trust to sell sensible knickers and cosy sweaters. Like any group of mates formed in the Nineties, including TV’s Friends, Take That have weathered storms and suffered attrition but, ultimately, they connect us to a more hopeful era.
