WHEN Embrace got down to making their latest album, 20 years into their recording career, they went back to where it all began.

“With the previous album, we’d spent a lot of time dissecting it all, pulling it apart, pushing ourselves,” says drummer Mike Heaton. “This time we thought, ‘What would we do if we were recording our first album?’ It was a case of: Does it sound good? Tick. We didn’t fight it.”

The result was Love Is A Basic Need, an album of haunting, anthemic songs of the kind that sealed Embrace’s distinctive sound back in 1998 when debut album The Good Will Out went to Number 1. “People say it sounds like Embrace’s second album," says Mike. "Usually, if we record an album in two years it’s pretty quick! We always take ages. This took less than a quarter of the time it took to record our previous album. It was nice, not too intense. Rather than sitting in a studio for months on end, we just got on with it. I’m really proud of what we came up with.”

With three Number 1 albums, six Top 10 singles, sold-out arena shows and over two million album sales behind them, Embrace made a triumphant return three years ago with their Top 5 self-titled album. The new album - their seventh - is released on March 2 and Embrace tour this spring, ending in Leeds.

New single Never, a duet between Danny McNamara and Kerri Watt, is described as "a love song with a dark twist" building to a euphoric chorus. "We set out to make an album where every song on it would stand up against the best songs we’ve ever written, and I’m pretty confident we’ve done just that,” says Danny.

Embrace started out with Danny and brother Richard playing guitar in a garden shed in Bailiff Bridge in 1990. A band was formed, joined by Mike, and they recorded a three-track demo, sold on cassettes at concerts. “Cassettes are retro now - but there’s nothing to play them on,” says Mike, lamenting the demise of the album. “My son is 14 and he’s never listened to a full album. Streaming is great for finding new music, but we’ve lost that thrill of buying an album and forcing yourself to listen to it all, because you want your money’s worth. There’s so much access to music now...almost too much.”

Following initial success in the 90s, Embrace topped the album charts again with Out of Nothing in 2004. Comeback single Gravity was written by Coldplay’s Chris Martin, a friend of the band since 2000, when Coldplay supported Embrace. Last year Embrace supported Coldplay on some stadium dates. “Chris was chatting to Danny about our new stuff and he said how much we’d inspired him when he was at university. He invited us on tour, we played to 50,000 people, which was phenomenal,” says Mike. “We did some intimate club dates last November which had a fantastic response. I’m looking forward to touring again and doing festivals."

Are the band planning more secret festivals, following their award-winning ventures of recent years. "They're hard work but brilliant to do," says Mike. "We'd have to come up with something that tops what we've done - gigs in the dark, on yachts, in caves. Every so often a secret gig snap appears on Facebook and I go, 'Did we really do that?'"

Mike is involved with Centre Stage, an annual battle of the bands in aid of Martin House children's hospice, and is impressed with the region's young bands. "Centre Stage is a great opportunity; if they get through the heats they get to play at the Leeds O2. That's a buzz for Embrace, let alone a school band!"

As well as the tour, Embrace are on the bill for Nineties weekend Shine this year, along with Ocean Colour Scene and other Britpop pioneers who paved the way for the likes of Coldplay and Kaiser Chiefs. "Yep, we're now 'nostalgia'," laughs Mike. "Next year is the 21st anniversary of Good Will Out, we're doing the whole album in concert. Why not celebrate it?"

* Embrace are at O2 Academy, Leeds, on Saturday, April 7.