As we approach the end of the decade, expect an avalanche of lists, including those for its bestselling albums. Dido and Robbie Williams will dominate, in the UK at least, suggesting a divided nation oscillating between sedation and light entertainment. Tucked in behind should be an interloper with an acoustic guitar, David Gray, who began his career back when it was all Britpop and no one cared for earnest singer-songwriters.

So Gray didn't hit pay dirt until his fourth album, 2000's multi-platinum White Ladder. After that, singer-songwriters were everywhere, although the man himself has never repeated the trick, settling down for two more albums of still lucrative MOR. Although looser, Draw the Line doesn't reinvent the Gray wheel. He can still write a melody and there's a pleasing bite to the lyrics, which allude to the state of the world post-Iraq, with Fugitive's "crouched in a hole like a mud-streaked fugitive" inspired by Saddam himself.