mail: daniel_fjall@hotmail.com
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the boy with the arab strap dear catastrophe waitress
The Boy With The Arab Strap The dreamy music floating out of the speakers with a remarkable beauty obviously is without a doubt influenced by the Velvet Underground’s tender ballads, Simon & Garfunkel and the vocal harmonies and often bitter lyrics more than once reminds of the Zombies’ most melancholic material. The generally strong songwriting’s impact is increased by the well thought through arrangements that often has small little things going on in the background. Short, repeated violin runs, saxophones, glockenspiel and other things fill out the basic set up, which is made up of steady bass, straight drumming and lovely acoustic guitars along with rhythmical piano playing. It all comes together as a unit because of the somewhat muddy production, but the vocals are always kept clean on all songs. The muddy, mushy production is far from being a negative thing. Just think of the magic created by Phil Spector just because he didn’t isolate every single instrument in the mix or making them crisp clear. The Boy With The Arab Strap could be somewhat monotonous for the lesser fan, but it is incredible solid all the way through. It’s probably just the inclusion of the spoken “A Space Boy Dream” that is questionable. Other than that one, the songs here are genuinely strong and pretty without being gutless in a disturbing manner. Far from being revolutionary or groundbreaking, but the Scottish indieband manages to keep your interest, first by capture you with the great atmosphere of the album, later you will discover all the advantages in the individual songs.
Dear Catastrophe Waitress Hardly different from The Boy With The Arab Strap, yet slightly better. The melodies are beautiful, the production might be a tad cleaner than on the 1998-album, the arrangements are just perfect and the actual songs gets to you a little faster. It’s not the sound or atmosphere that is appealing at the first listens, but the songs are direct and instantly catchy. The opening “Step Into My Office, Baby” sets the tone, with its Beach Boys-inspired arrangement. Fantastically built up with a good melody, “Good Vibrations”-rhythm, a gorgeous vocal-harmony section and clever lyrics. A minor masterpiece in its own right. Other highlights includes the sad and bitter sounding ballad “Lord Anthony”, the 60’s-influenced pop in “I’m A Cuckoo” and “If You Find Yourself Caught In Love”. Particularly impressive is how most of the album’s songs has some stripped down sections where harmony vocals, strings and horns creates a nearly jazz-like mood, if only kept to a minimum, floating around in the background. The album mainly has up tempo songs, catchy and fun, but at the same time are emotional accessible on a deeper level. Rarely rocking, but always swinging. Always humble, but in a grand way. Always comfortable, but never middling. Simply put: the trademark of Belle & Sebastian.
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