Over my years of avid music listening, Belle & Sebastian have been referred, recommended and preached over and over. It might not shock you to know I am terribly stubborn. If one band is pushed so far, I will probably just avoid it, though this time I did have my reasons.
Let me take you back to a Petersham bedroom rented by five boys in 2008. I was sleeping with another music blogger/pseudo pianist and this was long before I'd even started this blog. I used to wake up in his single bed which resembled a hospital bed, to the happiest music every single morning. I am not a morning person, I am a miserable person until at least 7pm at night so when I wake up you're lucky to even get The Cure out of me most mornings because even that can sound too happy to me.
"What is this?"
"Old Belle & Sebastian."
"It's too happy"
"Figured you'd say that" - Picks up keys, walks out of the room.
So, I guess ever since then, even after High Fidelity and 500 Days of Summer references, I couldn't get interested. I know of all their classics and I know a lot of musical elitists and muses I follow really love them but it wasn't until I saw 'Write About Love' in my Uncles music folder, that I decided to give them a spin almost three years later. Safe to say my love affair with said blogger too faded in these years, maybe weeks after, bless youth.
The cover art reminds me of that of the 'Louder Than Bombs' Smiths record, you know the one featuring British playwright Shelagh Delaney at the ripe age of 19, cigarette in hand. Anyway, the first track is 'I Didn't See It Coming' and it sounds happy, upbeat, I mean it isn't Matt Berninger from The National singing baritone lullabies of misery but there are (no pun intended) moments of lyrical sinister. It was exactly what I expected at the same time as it wasn't at all. I was impressed. From the first lines of, "Make me dance/ I want to surrender", I had done just that alone in my kitchen. I was cooking and suddenly there was, I guess, a bit of a rhythm in my pancake making from that point on.
'Write About Love' then slips into one of my favourite songs on the album, 'Come On Sister', which follows the album recipe of starting with something big, then taking it up a notch and again to the formula Mr Nick Hornby describes of making a mixtape, you have to cool it down it a bit, 'Not blow your wad right away' and the tempo drops to a romantic ballad 'Calculating Bimbo' which is actually bitterly sweet.
'I Want The World To Stop' is an incredibly catchy in that pop-repetitive way and I guess there's that element of The Smiths in saying something depressing in a cheerful manner, that I can appreciate. 'Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John' is said to be the best work on the album and it's a low tempo collaboration with Norah Jones. Maybe it's because I hate Norah Jones but if it's not background noise, this song doesn't do much for me. The tempo of the album is then awoken by the infectiously album titled track 'Write About Love' featuring the gorgeous Carrie Mulligan. This is the cutest piece of music I have heard in some time. I really enjoy the adorable, "I hate my job/I'm working way too much/Everyday I'm stuck in an office" offset by Murdoch suggesting there's a prettier way of living, "Just get on your skinny knees and pray". This song has been on high rotation since its discovery.
'Write About Love' proves to be buoyant as it continues into, 'I'm Not Living In The Real World', even though it's a three minute song, it's so sweet it ends before you realise it's begun.
Now the part where the tale end of the record twists into low tempo and I'm not saying it's a top-heavy work, but I find the last few songs to be a little less catchy, a little less enlightening until the closing track of 'Sunday's Pretty Icons' which is a lovely little piece that certainly does leave the listener satisfied and wanting more.
It's hard to write about a respected band or artist when you really don't know their work. This is the eighth studio release by Belle & Sebastian and unlike all the other reviews that incorporate all bands errors of the past, I really have nothing to say. I know I now need to work backwards into their catalogue and maybe that can be a benefit when you think about it, kinda like buying a box set and not having to wait for a new episode every week. Bad analogy. Anyway, if you're like me and you've never really bothered with Belle & Sebastian, I'd say give it a spin. This is one of my favourite records this year and as summer in Australia beckons, I know 'Write About Love' will be on high rotation here at OWM.
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