Dear Sinister, Duck. I quite like ‘Storytelling’ actually. Much seems to have been made about the albums brevity, and a perceived value for money which the album doesn’t have, but all of that seems at best peripheral to the appreciation of the music, which most people (not everyone), seem to agree is good or better. A lot of the people who have criticised the music itself seem to be criticising it because it’s film music, that the songs, especially the instrumentals are nice, but nothing more than nice. This is a fair enough criticism, but I think that as film music they work well (even if they weren’t included in the film). In fact I think if they’re so inclined Belle & Sebastian could have a decent career scoring films – I’ve read more than once about how the band want to make their next record sound more ‘free’ which is interesting as well, because if they succeed then we’ll have seen them operating at two extremes in as many records. The constraints put on them by electing to do the music for ‘Storytelling’ i.e. having to evoke a certain atmosphere with the music dictated by a certain scene or idea within the film etc, have benefited the band I think because they’ve had to change their methodology to fit those constraints. One of the main criticisms levelled at ‘Fold Your Hands Child…’ was that it sounded too much like Belle & Sebastian, that they were operating too much within their own hermetically sealed universe, a criticism I’d certainly agree with, and while the album showcased the best and worst of the band, I think they realised that it was time to move on, that they had to draw a line under their first four albums and handful of EPs and do something different. Doing the music for ‘Storytelling’ forced them to break out of that self-contained way of working, and while the sounds on the album are still recognisably Belle & Sebastian, I think the paradigm shift in the way they worked on the album is evident. This makes it sound like just a transitional record, but I don’t think it is – the only major flaw would seem to be the meagre amount of the music actually used in the film, which is a pity, and I can’t help thinking that the album could’ve been even better if there would’ve been a better relationship between the director and the band – and perhaps future projects will prove more successful in that respect. All this in mind it will be interesting to see where to band go next, and while the notion of a ‘free’ Belle & Sebastian album at first faintly ridiculous, perhaps it will lead them closer to the spirit of those early recordings which most of us seem keen for them to recapture. Duck. So, at this juncture, when the band have cast of the shackles of their past selves and are ready to embrace the future with relish (I bet you 10p that their next album sounds like a combination of Merzbow, Evan Parker, Lloyd Cole, Country Joe and The Fish, DJ Spooky, Captain Beefheart and Wham! and will feature guest appearances from the whole of Jurassic Five – Hi, I’m Sean Lennon and you’re listening to Jurassic Five and Belle & Sebastian), it seems odd that one of the members would decide to leave. Very few people seem saddened by the loss of Isobel Campbell in terms of the music, which most people (not everyone) seem to agree is average or worse, and with Sarah Martin sporting a likeable Moe Tucker-esque vocal (anyone else noticed that?) on whichever song it is on storytelling, it does seem female vocals do have a future in the band in spite of departing members. Being, as I am not dissimilar to said most people I am largely indifferent to the songs Isobel wrote for the band, but I do think it’s sad that she’s gone, because Ms Campbell did seem to encapsulate the very essence of the band – at once twee, affected, distant, but also at times engaging and capable of the momentary flights of artistic fancy that made Belle & Sebastian songs great, a backing vocal here, a cello lick there. Of course, I’m only really considering her public persona here, but it’s hard to argue that she wasn’t, isn’t an iconic figure in certain circles, very enigmatic. Perhaps that’s why she had to go. But it’s a pity anyway. I saw her new album in the jazz section in HMV on Monday, so she is at least moving up in the world in some respects. She is now officially jazz. Duck. What’s with all the England flags knocking around at the moment? I thought they went out of fashion some years ago, and yet as I type I can see three draped out of the upstairs windows, and a couple billowing from car radio aerials belonging some of my neighbours who have suddenly decided they like to wear their patriotism on the proverbial sleeve. I do find it slightly disconcerting to be honest, it probably has something to do with a combination of world cup and jubilee engendered feelings of nationalism, but aren’t both of those over as far as England are concerned? It seems like an odd way to celebrate your love for a country anyway, this rather outré show of… what? Solidarity? Unity? Surely the pluralism of British (and English, I’ve seen ten England flags for every union jack), culture (a good thing), has displaced the idea that we can all be brought together with one common interest (as symbolised by the flag)? Surely what we should be celebrating are our differences, because our similarities no longer seem all that important. And what exactly do these flags stand for anyway? If they, as I suspect, mean different things to different people (and I’ve seen them up all over the place – in predominantly Asian areas they are perhaps an outward show of ‘love’ for a country that still feels like an adopted home, rather than just a home. Which makes it sound like tokenism, but it’s more complicated than that I think, if having an Indian flag (or whatever), in your window is defiance, a refusal to disengage with the values of what you see to be your ‘real’ homeland, and a rejection of British (or wherever), culture then Asian families draping a union jack from their bedroom windows would be the opposite. Whereas I would say that something approximating a half way point between the two (i.e. no flag whatsoever), would be best – a sense of giving as well as taking culturally, which is how cultures are enriched in the first place), then surely this just reinforces the point about the pluralism of cultures making symbols which represent just one culture defunct. In this respect, and it’s probably my disenfranchisement with the world cup and the jubilee and the rest of it which increases my annoyance with seeing so many flags all over the place, I fail to see what the point in all these flags is. Perhaps it’s just a wilful clinging onto of an idea of England, one that never really existed, except in a few books and paintings and symbols of identity, which we know never existed, but still want back. Goose. Another thing which has been puzzling me, and I’m going to try not to be disparaging about it now (though past attempts have failed), is the continuing popularity of that ‘Big Brother’ show. When the first series arrived on our shores I decided not to watch it on principle (the principle being that it sounded like crap TV), and I didn’t bother watching any of it, avoided discussions about it and genuinely knew absolutely nothing about it. Same for the second series last year. But then as the hype for the new series rolled around, my interest was piqued – why did so many people not just like, but adore this show? Why were so many people (for want of a better word) addicted to it? So one evening I decided to watch – I wanted to try and focus solely on the show and prepared for it so I wouldn’t be unnecessarily distracted whilst it was on, collecting a few bags of salt and vinegar square crisps, a big glass of water and various cushions and stuff for comfort and settled down to watch. What followed was honestly one of the most dull experiences of my existence, and I’m including a nine month stint in a pitch-black womb in this estimation. Honestly, what on earth do people get out of watching? It’s voyeurism (though the extent to which information is withheld from viewers – they cut bits of dialogue deemed too risqué to broadcast etc does dampen said sense of voyeurism), which tells you that everyone is as boring as you – it’s like hacking someone’s email account only to find the same bits of spam and unwanted chain letters that’ve been lounging in your own account for months. The lives of the participants, the most minor nuances of their characters, their mundane troubles and everyday concerns are laid out in front of us, packaged as if they were entertainment, but in what sense is this entertainment? What does this tell us about humanity? The main complaint of the contestants is, according to my brother who watches the show a fair bit, boredom. Why would I want to watch people being bored? I can eavesdrop on more interesting conversations on the bus, just wandering through town, and then at least I only get fragments and I can fabricate a much more interesting background for the snippets of information I hear, but with Big Brother I get the whole thing, the beginning middle and end of the whole boring story without any room for imagination. And the contestants themselves seem deliberately chosen for their non threatening characteristics, all picked from the same, ugh, demographic to be attractive but vain, outgoing but inarticulate, flirtatious but uncommitted etc etc. The only reason my brother could give for his continual enjoyment of the show (for he has watched all the series’ I believe), is that it is ‘engrossing’. Gladly though, I myself was not engrossed and I don’t intend to watch again – the square crisps were nice though. Anyone who does watch and could enlighten me on the shows merits, about how it’s a fascinating social experiment or a conceptual art ‘happening or just why they find it entertaining would be more than welcome to email me with their views. Did I say I was going to try not to be disparaging? I’m really in the mood for a good game of duck, duck goose at the moment. Anyone up for that? Cheers. - Kieran _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. 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