Sinister: time for a brew

[robin stout]

Dear Sinister,

You know, with all of these posts about the new album, I'm reminded, as I 
occasionally am, that even in this small pink corner of the world called 
Sinister we all seem to regard Belle and Sebastian in very different ways. I 
suppose this is a good thing, but it makes me feel I have to explain what I 
love about this band before I say all the other stuff I'm going to say.

Stuart Murdoch once said:

<< I sincerely think all great music comes from lyrics. I'd love it if 
something British knocked me off my feet tomorrow, but the last British 
music to really knock me down was the Smiths. >>

And sometimes I feel a little sorry for Stuart that he is who he is, because 
the last British music to really knock me down was Belle and Sebastian, and 
I'm sure it would be the same for him if he *wasn't* Belle and Sebastian, if 
you see what I mean. But the reason I thought of that quote is because of 
the first sentence. All the music I truly love comes from lyrics. There are 
very few songs that manage to describe certain feelings, situations, certain 
things about the world as well as Stuart's do. I think this is part of the 
reason I've never subscribed to the idea that b+s are twee. I listen to 
their songs and they describe the world around me, they wake me up to things 
I hadn't seen before. Unlike the narrowness and artificiality the label 
"twee" implies, I actually think his lyrics have both lyrical breadth and 
truth. He writes about the beauty of the world surrounding him, with an air 
of curiosity.

It's probably because of this that I've rather enjoyed the diary Stuart has 
been keeping over the last year or so. Some would say that the diary 
somewhat scatters the mystique that the band have. I think that assumes that 
the world in his songs was entirely made up, and reading about the real 
world of belle and sebastian tarnishes the make-believe one. I think the two 
are merely different sides of the same coin. Often his diary entries, like 
his sleevenotes, come across as longhand versions of his songs.

My favourite b+s album is If You're Feeling Sinister, but, you know, I think 
my favourite single (or ep) is I'm Waking Up To Us. They're very different 
records, but I think they have equally strong lyrical voices. And, as with 
the best of their output, strong lyrics and strong melody go hand in hand.

I'd also compare a lot of the better stuff on the new album to the songs on 
their last single. This is where I think that Pitchfork review entirely 
misses the mark. The heritage of the more diverse songs on this album lies 
in songs like Electronic Renaissance, Simple Things, Shoot the Sexual 
Athlete and I'm Waking Up to Us, and couldn't be more different to Legal 
Man.

Ah, I've rambled on a bit too much. I don't think I'll be able to fit a 
proper review into this envelope, so I'll send it separately.

Robin x

ps: at work today I wrote down this:

SIMOB
DCW
ISWM
PNYC
IAC
YDSM
WUIB
LA
DMAFOM
SL

Anyone else agree??

pps: If you want to save the hassle of reading my album review, just read 
Richard Rask's and mine's the opposite.

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