Doe-eyed lovers and quiet indie kids, rejoice! Belle & Sebastian have returned after four years with their followup to the incredible The Life Pursuit album with their seventh studio album, Belle & Sebastian Write About Love, which is probably the weakest album title they've thus far released (consider this is the same band that released If You're Feeling Sinister and Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant (okay, I really just wanted to write all that out. Long album titles amuse me.)).
Luckily, unstellar title notwithstanding, the lads have turned out another largely superb album that will rest comfortably next to Dear Catastrophe Waitress and The Life Pursuit (I'll fit 'em all in, you watch) as a cohesive statement of the band's musicianship and the stunning lyrical skills of Stuart Murdoch.
The album opens inauspiciously, with the track "I Didn't See It Coming," a piano driven piece sung largely by Sarah Martin to better effect than any of the songs she (or Isobell Campbell or whomever) has fronted for the band in many many years. The melody is stolen straight from your favorite memories and will surely lodge itself there for a long time. "I Want the World to Stop" is classic B&S, an upbeat pop tempo, a grooving bassline, and lyrics communicating the gray dullness of winter and depression and the longing to escape (think "The Loneliness of a Middle Distance Runner" meets "Sleep the Clock Around") sung in Murdoch's beautiful tenor with an urgency that grips your heart.
Ultimately, the album's greatest triumphs are its' greatest failings as well. Beside the fact that this album is virtually indistinguishable from other albums in Belle & Sebastian's oeuvre, there's no forward progress as musicians. This could be their third album or their fifth album just as easily as their seventh. And of course, the songs written by Stevie Jackson (I'm thinking specifically of "I'm Not Living in the Real World," a song which I may never play again after finishing this review) and the other members of the band never quite measure up to the urgency, the emotion, the pure heart-wrenching pureness of Murdoch's honesty.
Of course, having more of the same isn't really a concern for fans of the band, because while they haven't moved forward per se, they haven't stagnated either. The music is still bright, emotive, fresh, and relevant, and twee fans all over the world should accept Belle & Sebastian Write About Love with triumphant fanfare for a band who knows exactly what they're good at doing and is going to make wonderful indie pop for many years to come.
8.1/10
It occurs to me that, as I'm the only one here (do you hear an echo?) I could ostensibly review anything I choose. Given the name of the site, I'll try to keep it music-centric, but in the future there may turn out to be ramblings, rants, essays, whathaveyou about Batman, Doctor Who, James Joyce, and The Royal Tennenbaums.
Of course all this is academic as I haven't even reviewed an album yet in my glorious return. But that changes today!
Unless I take a nap.
It has been a day for consuming media. After much Fringe, video games, Always Sunny, Jacob's Room, and on and on, I turned to music I'd been neglecting, as well as some forthcoming albums.
What a year for music it has been.
Today I got through Sea of Cowards, the latest effort from The Dead Weather, the latest in Jack White's seemingly endless list of side projects, the new album from indie-pop darlings Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Let it Sway, and the new Wavves album, in addition to hearing the new records by Ben Folds, Belle & Sebastian, of Montreal, and Badly Drawn Boy. As I write this, I am hurtling toward the end of MGMT's incredible sophomore psych-pop album Congratulations.
I have also quite recently consumed a large quantity of food and smoked a bunch, so this blog post is an attempt to beat sleep. Incoherency may take over. You have been warned.
It also occurs to me that the list currently kept at the right is so dated as to be laughable. Not that you care because, let's be honest, you're either one of two people or you're imaginary. But I shall be replacing it with albums that I might actually review in the future.
And other upkeep things which have all slipped my mind.
Uh...
Being as I'm too lazy to put together a real post just now, here is a short list of some of the artists what will surely turn out to be contenders for any sort of "best-of" list I may put together in a relatively short matter of time.
The Arcade Fire
The Black Keys
Minus the Bear
Vampire Weekend
The National
Band of Horses
!!!
Interpol
Of Montreal
Shit Robot
Scissor Sisters
LCD Soundsystem
Murder by Death
Stars
MGMT
The Dead Weather
Gonna give this another try. My esteemed colleague the faderist has started his own project (link to the right) and the two of us basically left this site to die (it's been a rough couple of years).
However, since writing is a thing that keeps me grounded, focused, and sharp, I'm going to (for about the 92nd time) try to update my blogs more often than never, starting today. Forthcoming will be a short roundup of some of the more stellar albums of the year, including The National, LCD Soundsystem, The Books, and more, in an attempt to not be drowned in albums at the end of the year.
Anticipate it!
Doe-eyed lovers and quiet indie kids, rejoice! Belle & Sebastian have returned after four years with their followup to the incredible The Life Pursuit album with their seventh studio album, Belle & Sebastian Write About Love, which is probably the weakest album title they've thus far released (consider this is the same band that released If You're Feeling Sinister and Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant (okay, I really just wanted to write all that out. Long album titles amuse me.)).
