Review

When the words “Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian’s new side-project” are heard, one instantly hopes that the next sound you hear will be the crushing, down-tuned, anger of black metal. Or the Afro-centric rhythms of Talking Heads at their magisterial best. Or the mind expanding sound of a psychedelic voyage into the cosmos. Or…

…another twee, classically hewn, Sixties-esque introspective epic, fully decked out in horn rimmed spectacles and cardigan? Surely NO-ONE in the world needs a Belle & Sebastian side-project that sounds the same as Belle & Sebastian? Have we not suffered enough? But what if this really is a leap forward? Jettisoning the preciousness of the day job, Murdoch has drawn upon a richly textured cinematic vein of inspiration, conjuring images of Truffaut and Scott Walker, rain sliding down the window of the train as it pulls away from your heart’s desire. He’s not really breaking any new ground here, but he’s doing it in such a skilled way, that it causes you to look at the last few B&S albums, and wonder why he’s been sitting on this project for so long. It won’t win him any new fans, but it is a delicious treat of an album, one that may endure longer than some of the work he’s best known for. Steven Rainey

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DOWNLOAD: ‘GOD HELP THE GIRL’, ‘PERFECTION AS A HIPSTER’.
FOR FANS OF: BLACK AND WHITE FRENCH CINEMA, TENDER KISSES IN THE RAIN, BITTERSWEET ENDINGS.

Posted on: 27th January 2010

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