Belle and Sebastian: Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance (Matador)

 |   |  <1 min read

Belle and Sebastian: Ever Had a Little Faith?
Belle and Sebastian: Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance (Matador)

One of the must-see acts at Laneway, B&S from Scotland have over two decades quietly built a large fanbase for their gorgeously melodic, cleverly literate and often wry pop-rock which owes nods to embellished Bacharach as much as crafted Anglofolk.

And they haven't been averse to stretching into glam-style pop.

So here when they go all Sparks-styled disco (on the seven-minute Enter Sylvia Plath) you can hardly be surprised.

This is a typically free-wheeling collection with discreet nods to folksy-funk (The Everlasting Muse about songwriting with Tijuana horns and knees-up middle section), flirtations with Talking Heads-like bubbling groves (Perfect Couples) and classic Fifties/Sixties pop (the initially breezy The Book of You which closes with a furious Seventies guitar solo).

Between the opener – the delightfully spiritual Nobody's Empire, think the Chills at their most uplifting – and the reflective closer Today (This Army's For Peace), here again B&S explore pop in all its possibilities over a dozen diverse songs which will either have you furiously bouncing on the dancefloor (Allie, The Party Line) or enjoying over a cup of tea (Ever Had a Little Faith?) . . . and always offering lyrics which can make you think.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

Po' Girl: Home To You (Shock)

Po' Girl: Home To You (Shock)

The previously posted Po' Girl album Vagabond Lullabies was actually a few years old and only given belated release in this country. But it was too good to ignore, and allowed me to set you up for... > Read more

Julian Lennon: Jude (digital outlets)

Julian Lennon: Jude (digital outlets)

Few would chose Julian Lennon's life: an absent or indifferent famous father whose murder severed any further possible contact when he was 17; his own musical career always inviting a comparison he... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

THE BARGAIN BUY: Various Artists; 100 Hits, 50s

THE BARGAIN BUY: Various Artists; 100 Hits, 50s

If you are looking at what prompted Frank Sinatra to denounce rock'n'roll of the mid Fifites as "played and written by cretinous goons", this five CD collection gives you the answer.... > Read more

Dee Dee Bridgewater: Red Earth, A Malian Journey (Universal)

Dee Dee Bridgewater: Red Earth, A Malian Journey (Universal)

Just last week I was saying to a friend that Mali was starting to feel like the new Jamaica. Consider the number of artists whose names are becoming familiar: the late Ali Farka Toure and now his... > Read more