Genre Music - Retro/Pop Artist Belle & Sebastian Format CD, Vinyl Label Jeepster Produced UK 2000

Belle & Sebastian is one of those bands that offers a distinctive, melodic Sixties nostalgia.

Once discovered, they are hard to shake. Their refusal to engage with the media stirs questions - is their faceless act a result of shyness? Or arrogance? Quite simply, it is an attempt to NOT become commercially successful. They would rather remain out of the celebrity limelight, doing what they do best - writing superb music.

Was the release of the single, Legal Man, in 2000 a teaser to the possibility that they might be emerging from their shell? Far from it. Their recent album, Storytelling, was the "so-called" soundtrack to Todd Solondz’s film. But only six minutes of their music was used and, although the album has a distinct soundtrack edge, reminiscent of late Sixties/early Seventies films, it merely helped secure Belle & Sebastian’s obscurity.

With their previous offering, Fold Your Hands Child You Walk Like A Peasant, they created an album of supreme consistency. Going in a new direction is not something they seem particularly interested in. Listen to band member Stuart David’s Looper for break beats and experimental hip hop. Besides, these artists produce more of the same excellent music we want to listen to, as other band members proliferate.

There are intimations of Isobel Campbell's fascination with nursery rhyme, lullabies reminiscent of the The Boy With The Arab Strap, and Stevie Jackson's love for anything Motown. We re-enter the classic B&S territory, going back to original routes from their first album, Tigermilk - calming vocals and intricately constructed string arrangements, executed with effortless panache.

The band deals less with adolescence and more with abstract emotions. The Model is the strongest track, as Murdoch sings with his usual uninterested and breathless voice. I Fought In A War is a soldier's letter home to his sweetheart. Don't Leave The Light On, Baby shimmers with a gentle sensuality that begs for a replay. The Wrong Girl resembles a Bacharach tune, with those trumpets playing.

Their songs are like stepping into a time machine, nothing new or ground breaking, just simple nostalgia, something we would listen to at times to give us a break from techno and hip hop. This is classic B&S, as irresistible as what has gone before.

The best explanation of the feelings generated by their music can be described as stuck in an episode of The Littlest Hobo…but directed by Sam Peckinpah. Odd tasting cheese with an edge.

Buy Fold Your Hands Child You Walk Like A Peasent at Amazon

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