She's a Venus in flairs

Wang's Record Reviews
(A Starless System)

The new Belle and Sebastian album came out last week, a few weeks ahead of their big Chicago concert.


On The Life Pursuit, Belle and Sebastian combine some of their classic sound with the musical pastiche they started exploring on Dear Catastrophe Waitress. Some songs seem plucked right from their back catalog, and others go off in all new directions. The result is a continuation of their peppy, melodic, free-spirited brand of tweeful pop.

Some album highlights:

"Act of the Apostle Part 1" -- With its low, driving piano line, the song tells the story of a girl struggling with her religious faith. Much later in the album, "Acts of the Apostle Part 2" starts off with a bluesy/country bassline, and the speaker seems to have found a new kind of religious faith in music:

My Damascan Road’s my transistor radio
I tune in at night when my mum and my dad start to fight
I put on my headphones
And I tune out
I am devout
The girls are singing about my life

In the middle of Part 2, the melody switches back to the melody of Part 1, bookending the two songs beautifully.


"Another Sunny Day" --
This song is Old School B&S, in both music and lyrics. It would fit right in on If You're Feeling Sinister.

I saw you in the corner of my eye on the sidelines
Your dark mascara bids me to historical deeds

"White Collar Boy"
The brilliant opening with its driving bass & guitar leads to a humorous call & response-type verse structure reminiscent of Motown girl groups like the Ronettes. One of their most danceable songs ever.

She said “You ain’t ugly, you can kiss me if you like”
Go ahead and kiss her, you don’t know what you’re missing
You said “Baby, you’re special,
But there’s something not quite right.”
She’s a Venus in flares and you wanna split hairs!

"Blues are Still Blue"
This song continues the vocal acrobatics explored on Dear Catastrophe Waitress, at times sounding a bit like David Bowie. With bizarre lyrics about laundromats (or laundrettes as the Brits would say), dogs, and homework, this is a definite highlight.


"Dress Up in You"
Piano, slow beat, horns -- everything screams early B&S. The song is beautiful and heartbreaking, but with a level of anger not seen from our Scottish friends:

They act so discreet, they are hypocrites forget them
So fuck them too!

"Sukie in the Graveyard"

She had a slut slave and his name was Dave
She said "Be my photo bitch and I’ll make you rich"

Enough said.


"Song for Sunshine"
This one starts out with some kind of 70's guitar that sounds like it could be the theme music for a tv show like Barney Miller or some other cop show. But the song is the best 5th Dimension impression a group of Scottish folks could hope to achieve.


"For the Price of a Cup of Tea"
For no other reason than the upbeat music and singsong harmonies, I love this song.



March 10th, get here soon.