Belle & Sebastian hardly need an introduction; they are easily one of the most recognizable and beloved groups in Independent music and have been putting out records since the early nineties with gems like If You're Feeling Sinister and The Boy With The Arab Strap. You can read in length my thoughts on the latter of those LPs, but in general, I am mostly a fan of the band's earlier output, with my love waning a bit on albums like The Life Pursuit. It's not that I don't find these albums pleasant to the ear, it's just that they lack the charm that those earlier records have.
That being said, I find myself in a strange position listening to their 9th studio album, Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance. Because this album finds the band going in a completely different direction, a dancier, brighter one that takes cues from disco and (for a more contemporary reference) that last Arcade Fire album, Reflektor.
Sure, this is absolutely still a B&S album, but this time they want you to put your latte down, take off that over sized sweater and dance! And while this album certainly isn't one that is going to find it's way into dance clubs, I do think it is good for some shoulder swaying or maybe even a slow dance or two.
Songs like "The Party Line" and "Perfect Couples" are bright and peppy with solid grooves, especially in the verses of the former; and while I've read some critics saying that this album is a bit weak in its attempts at dance pop, I think the band manages to fuse their style (much like Arcade Fire) with these new found sounds in a satisfying way that doesn't feel contrived.
Other tracks here step away from the dance floor for a breather, such as the opener, which is quickly becoming one of my favorites from the band, with the lead singer giving us a bevy of lyrics that are personal and poetic. I also really enjoyed the tracks "Allie", "The Everlasting Muse" and the penultimate shot of energy "The Book Of You".
There are however a couple of problems I have with this latest album: one, the production can be a bit to clean for my tastes; one of the reasons I prefer the older stuff over the newer stuff is that I feel that they build a wall between the listener and the music when they produce their songs so heavily, but that problem isn't as big here because the nature of dance music is to be heavily produced for maximum rump-shaking effect. Secondly, the album does run a bit longer than most B&S albums, and while the material here is certainly worth listening to in its entirety, I'd still say tracks like "Play For Today" could have done with some trimming.
At the end of the day, this is still a B&S album, but depending on what that means to you will determine what your reaction will be. To me, these guys are good at writing quaint, positive songs about life, and they do that here, but with just a little bit more looseness than what we're used to hearing from these guys.
8.2/10
No comments:
Post a Comment