Belle & Sebastian Write About Love

It's hard to believe it's been four years since the last Belle and Sebastian album but here we are four years on since the release of The Life Pursuit with something new finally on offer. Things have changed a bit around the Belle and Sebastian camp since that time. If the last album was like an FM Gold album, than I'm not exactly where there new album, Write About Love fits in. Yes it's twee and yes it's pop, but it’s not as twee as Tigermilk and it isn’t quite as pop as Dear Catastrophe Waitress either. Call it their grown up album and a happy compromise and while it seems to take most of its cues from the band's twee past it doesn’t forget the poptastic moments of their more recent work.

Two songs into Write About Love and it becomes obvious that this is probably the most developed and lovely thing that they’ve ever done. In a sense that's literally true because the title sort of describes what the album actually is about. This is Belle and Sebastian writing about love and how they love to write about it, be in it, experience it, and all that goes with having your heart melt where it stands. This is the band pursuing an album that while young in spirit seeks to be wiser and more accomplished than anything else they’ve done and laying their collective heart on the table. Judging by the eleven songs on Write About Love it would seem as though they’ve achieved their goal.

While Belle and Sebastian don’t have a bad album in their catalog per se, it is obvious that they're still coming to terms with the love/hate relationship people had with their last couple of releases. Yes, this is a great album but one can't wonder where all the singles are that made this band so fiercely awesome. This is a band that released so many classic songs early in their career one can't help but wonder what's up with Stuart and company. With that in mind, it seems as though they used all that "commercial controversy" to their advantage here. Sure there are elements of pop gloss all over Write About Love but rather than being the focus of the album it’s now just another part of the jumble of influences that makes up their sound. The result of all this experience, experimentation, and lack of obvious singles is an album that is beautifully orchestrated, engaging, self assured, and in touch with its emotions.

Write About Love finds Stuart’s voice as distinctive as ever, horns that are impeccable building blocks for the songs, and verses that are catchier than fly paper. This is a truly great record that stands to not only reassure fans but reaffirm what we already knew; that Belle and Sebastian will always be a great band. Write About Love's maturity, structure, familiarity, uniqueness, and simply magnificent songs make this record essential listening.

For those hoping for a return to the jangly twee pop that put them on the map, Write About Love is not that record. It’s something more; much more. It’s the record that Belle and Sebastian have always threatened to make. This is the band at its best taking the culmination of their experiences and making music they want to make. In other words, if Belle & Sebastian call it a day tomorrow they will always look back at this record and say, “This is what we’re about, this is what we always wanted to do and we did it.”

God Help The Girl

With Belle and Sebastian on a short hiatus, frontman Stuart Murdoch has had some time on his hands. Rather than actually relax and enjoy life, Stuart has come up with one of the more interesting side projects you are likely to hear. Centered around a bevy of female singers, God Help the Girl is actually more of a project rather than an actual group. You see, the whole idea of God Help The Girl was that these singers would help fill out the songs that were envisioned as a soundtrack to a film that does not (yet) exist. While this all sounds a bit weird, once you actually listen to God Help The Girl the pieces slowly slide into place.

Not a traditional pop album in any sense, God Help The Girlplays out like a chamber pop record filled with and influenced by French chanson, twee pop, easy listening, and jazz. Ok...wait a second. What am I talking about? For Stuart Murdoch and Belle and Sebastian it's those exact influences that make up the best traditional pop albums and when you add to that the fact, that God Help The Girl is pretty much a Belle and Sebastian record with a series of guest vocalists instead of the usual cast fronting the band how could this record ever fail.

With vocalist Catherine Ireton leading the way, God Help The Girl's songs take on a softer almost easy listening feel to them. And while Stuart and even Neil from the Divine Comedy lend their voices, the album is structured around the female voice to tell its tale. Sometimes it works well, see the jovial title track "God Help The Girl." Sometimes it just hurts to hear, see the soulful reworking of the B&S classic, "Funny Little Frog's." After hearing that, one can't help but wonder how former vocalist Isobel Campbell would have approached these songs and for that matter how even Stuart himself would have sung some of these tunes. While God Help The Girl does occasionally get a bit big for it's britches, it still is a very enjoyable record of chamber pop that even at it's worst sounds better than half the music out their today.

Having spent some quality time with this record, I can't help but wonder if this record were made into a movie how would it play out? Apparently the story revolves around the trials and tribulations the main character goes through as she grows up and eventually has a mental breakdown. Not the feel good hit of the summer, then, but I'm sure if it were to somehow become a movie, Stuart Murdoch would make it something worth watching. Until that day, the imaginary soundtrack that is God Help The Girl will serve as the perfect filler in between Belle and Sebastian albums.

Belle and Sebastian At The Beeb

Let me just state for the record right off the bat, that it's about time. 12 years in the making, Belle and Sebastian's latest release, The BBC Sessions collects their radio sessions on the famed British radio network from the years 1996-2001. For anyone who lives outside of the UK and never got to hear these sessions when they were originally broadcast, the release of this record is so long overdue that it's actual release is a joyous occasion.

Often considered one of the most important (if not most important) indie pop bands of the last 15-20 years, Belle and Sebastian have had a long illustrious career filled with seminal albums and singles and an eccentric attitude to match. It's made them fun to follow and to listen to and listening to the tracks that make up BBC Sessions only reaffirms the band's importance, attitude, and just how great of a band they are. Consisting of their singles, tracks from their albums, and a few surprises, BBC Sessions is recorded in an unadorned style that while not quite as orchestrated as the original versions show B&S to be an amazingly tight band that are so much more then the twee image that they are often given.

Within the singles, tracks, and surprises lies B&S's very first session on the Mark Radcliffe show and the inclusion of three tracks from their legendary album If You're Feeling Sinister. "Like Dylan In the Movies," "Judy and the Dream of Horses," "Stars of Track and Field," all make appearances before the album actually came out and subtly hinted at just how good this record actually would be. Perhaps of even more importance is the super duper rare John Peel session in 2001 which not only marked one of the last appearances of twee goddess Isobel Campbell but several songs that have never been released in studio form. This session is worth the price of the disc alone because a) Isobel is on it 2) it's John Peel doing what he does bell and 3) it's B&S at their intimate best. The super-sunny, "The Magic of a Kind Word," and the sort of Sarah records-like tune that is, "(My Girl's Got) Miraculous Technique," are so brilliant that they sum up everything B&S are about in the span of seven minutes. It's truly magical stuff that will tug at your heart strings and win you over with a giant pat on the back.

It may have taken seven or so years to actually see The BBC Sessions released but it was worth it. The album is available as a standard single disc set and a deluxe double disc set for the super obsessed Belle and Sebastian fans. The deluxe set includes a live concert from Belfast in 2001 that sums the first disc up but throws it into a live setting and brings a rowdy crowd along for the ride. While the second disc isn't essential for anyone except B&S geeks, the first disc (or standard version) is incredibly essential and stands a supplement to how important Belle and Sebastian have become in the world of indie pop.