They’ve been pegged as foppish and twee in the past, but Belle & Sebastian’s ninth studio album will shake off those lazy descriptions once and for all.
On this album, recorded in Atlanta, Stuart Murdoch and his bandmates dabble in quirky Europop, hip-shimmying 1970s rock, and dreamy folk for their most dizzyingly diverse record to date.
The throbbing synths of The Party Line and Enter Sylvia Plath are immediately ear-catching, but the sexy, schmoozy pop-turned-Cossack-folk-tune The Everlasting is equally superb, as is Murdoch's deft, melodic duet with Dee Dee Penny (Dum Dum Girls) on Play for Today. The Scots' simple delight in making music is audible throughout.
It’s still early days, but this could be the most perfect pop album you’ll hear in 2015.
