Belle and Sebastian, you confuse and delight me.
Long, long ago, back in 1997, Belle and Sebastian were easily my favorite band. After releasing If You're Feeling Sinister, they spent the summer releasing three EPs that were all a marvel of clever songwriting and stunning emotional insight. I still remember sitting around listening to each new EP as it came out with my housemate/boyfriend, both of us struck jealous. Why couldn't we write shit like this? Lazy Line Painter Jane? String Bean Jean? They made us cry. The band were also a little mysterious, refusing to appear in publicity photos or on the covers of their albums, using friends instead.
Then came The Boy with the Arab Strap. It appeared to me that there was a little too much democracy in the band, with leader Stuart Murdoch trading off song-writing with the others, whose ideas were not as sharply conceived or executed. So I stopped. I didn't pick up any more albums. I didn't follow them any more. I guess I considered them a lost cause.
So I borrow a friend's iPod to do a jog on the treadmill over Christmas holidays, and this 6 minute-long B&S song comes up. I'm tempted to skip it, but decide to give them another chance.
Don't watch the video. It's a classic piece of B&S self-sabotage. Or actually, watch the video and be amazed at the decision-making m.o. of this band, but after you listen to the song with the window minimized.
Your Cover's Blown is simply epic. It's long, and it travels. Here again is a slightly mysterious set of lyrics, with hints telling one story and some lines telling another. Again, Stuart Murdoch's strong, high voice, quite unlike anything else out there these days, singing and scolding and sexy. But new are these bass lines, driving and funky and walking with you to take you ...somewhere. There's a crazy keyboard that makes you laugh at first, but later fits so perfectly it's like it was invented for this song. There's a bridge around 2:20 that makes me jump out of my chair if I play it loud enough and harmonies in the last 2 minutes that have me shaking my head because I love them all and can't figure out which line I want to sing along to. This song falls into none of the old Belle and Sebastian traps. It's not twee, it falls into a good pocket from the seventies, a little glam, a little Grease, maybe, instead of a dead end. And I love it. So I thought I would share this with you, the song that I've needed to listen to at least once a day since I first heard it, the song I listened to when I snuck away from my husband's family on Christmas telling them I had to go brush my teeth, then my husband found me dancing to it in our room like a teenager hiding from her parents....just to hear a song.
Then came The Boy with the Arab Strap. It appeared to me that there was a little too much democracy in the band, with leader Stuart Murdoch trading off song-writing with the others, whose ideas were not as sharply conceived or executed. So I stopped. I didn't pick up any more albums. I didn't follow them any more. I guess I considered them a lost cause.
So I borrow a friend's iPod to do a jog on the treadmill over Christmas holidays, and this 6 minute-long B&S song comes up. I'm tempted to skip it, but decide to give them another chance.
Don't watch the video. It's a classic piece of B&S self-sabotage. Or actually, watch the video and be amazed at the decision-making m.o. of this band, but after you listen to the song with the window minimized.
Your Cover's Blown is simply epic. It's long, and it travels. Here again is a slightly mysterious set of lyrics, with hints telling one story and some lines telling another. Again, Stuart Murdoch's strong, high voice, quite unlike anything else out there these days, singing and scolding and sexy. But new are these bass lines, driving and funky and walking with you to take you ...somewhere. There's a crazy keyboard that makes you laugh at first, but later fits so perfectly it's like it was invented for this song. There's a bridge around 2:20 that makes me jump out of my chair if I play it loud enough and harmonies in the last 2 minutes that have me shaking my head because I love them all and can't figure out which line I want to sing along to. This song falls into none of the old Belle and Sebastian traps. It's not twee, it falls into a good pocket from the seventies, a little glam, a little Grease, maybe, instead of a dead end. And I love it. So I thought I would share this with you, the song that I've needed to listen to at least once a day since I first heard it, the song I listened to when I snuck away from my husband's family on Christmas telling them I had to go brush my teeth, then my husband found me dancing to it in our room like a teenager hiding from her parents....just to hear a song.