There are certain bands that you will just never ever come round to liking, regardless of what they may say or do. On the opposite side of the coin, there are certain band who you will loyally, unremittingly love, regardless of their future antics or releases. And often, the bands that you just devote yourself to and would physically fight for is the band that one person just loathes in every aspect. The band (the band you love) is, for me, Belle & Sebastian.
I first came across them when watching Juno, which include their songs "Piazza, New York Catcher" (nearly my favourite, after one featured below) and "Expectations" and I just fell in love with them instantly.
The reasons people wouldn't like them are fully understandable to me. They're called twee, pretentious, wet, repetitive and were described by a friend of mine as "the pussiest band like... ever!" I can fully understand that. But I find them heartfelt, honest, sweet, thoughtful and exciting, and their music is tied up with some wonderful memories for me. Songwriter and singer Stuart Murdoch's voice is a make or break kind of voice and I think is what either attracts or repels most people. But it's a lot more than that that pulls me in. The instrumentation is just so lush and well put together, and yet the songs can be relentlessly catchy. The lyrics are a big thing- Stuart Murdoch has this incredible ability to both flit between and combine extremely autobiographical lyrics and brilliant third person stories. So much of their music captures those wonderful moods and feelings that lie outside the boundaires of lots of pop, rock or indie songs- bittersweetness, melancholy, ironic happiness. The ability to do that is part of what I think makes them, not necessarily geniuses, but a band who are incredibly able to be spot on, hit the nail on the head, gentle twang on your emotional chords.
However, if you've heard Belle & Sebastian before and don't like them then nothing in this post or the songs I'm recommending will change your mind I'm afraid (but you could keep reading if you like ;) ) That's not a criticism of them- I've made it clear that I love them! It's just that the songs I'm recommending are classic Belle & Sebastian.
FluxBlog, the internet's oldest mp3 blog (it's been going since 2002!) run by Pitchfork writer Matthew Perpetua posted up a free downloads of two of the stand out tracks from the band's new album Belle & Sebastian Write About Love- "I Want the World To Stop" and "Write About Love", as well as a BBC Session version of classic "Judy and the Dream of Horses". They are all brilliant tracks and I would thoroughly recommend the new album. It's pretty much as good as anything they've done. It's just brimming with sentiment, melody, stories, quirky guitar lines and the unidentifiable quality that I just find so lovable in this band. The album's a grower, but has been sensationally rewarding for me. Even the duet with Norah Jones.
Click here for "I Want the World to Stop" and "Judy and the Dream of Horses".
Click here for "Write About Love".
THIS is my favourite of their songs, from their first album, Tigermilk
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