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<DIV><EM><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT></EM><FONT color=#000000 size=2>As
promised my translation of a piece on B&S in a big Dutch newspaper.
Dutchisms and spelling mistakes are my responsibility. The last paragraph is
missing, by request of Jeepster. It's news on a local problem which could cause
unneccessary panic and on the solution of which is being worked on.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Koen</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT></EM> </DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#000000 size=2>The answer to the slump in the British music
industry is called Belle & Sebastian. A group of eight, led by the timid
frontman Stuart Murdoch, who has a sidejob working as a verger an who sings in a
churchchoir on Sundays. Belle & Sebastian offer comfort with softly sung
songs and quiet orchestrations with cello and recorder. "Promises of fame,
promises of fortune..."</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT></EM> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>The British record industry is in despair. When
things were finally looking up thanks to millionsellers by Oasis, Blur,
Radiohead and the Prodigy, it's all starting to collapse again. The big
companies are all dropping their hastily contracted guitar bands, and Creation,
which was set to become a major player thanks to Oasis, is laying off personnel
in droves. The cause, according to several British papers and magazines: no-one
is spending money on records and cd's anymore. The public has lost its interest
in homegrown popmusic as quickly as it was gained, a few years ago. There are no
new mayor talents, and Pulp for instance sold only a quarter of the amount the
marketing department had predicted of "This Is Hardcore". It's all
very sad, especially for the countless bands which were lured to the record
companies with big promises and are already dropped again.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>Who do we turn to - when Oasis' hedonistic boys'
music doesn't suffice, when the endless decrypting of Radioheads "Ok
Computer" leads to nothing and the cartoon figures of the Prodigy
annoyingly pop up everywhere. Who do we turn to?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>Belle & Sebastian.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>The eight of them have named themselves after
the novel "Belle et Sebastie" by Madame Cecile Aubrey, which was
turned into a television series in the late sixties. They're from Scotland and
do everything different than usual. They don't do interviews - well, the drummer
and trumpet player are known to have done some, but the creative brains,
singer/composer Stuart Murdoch, maintains a steadfast silence. He prefers his
job as a verger and singing in a church choir on Sunday mornings. Photographic
sessions are another of Belle & Sebastian's don'ts. There's only one
publicity shot, about eight people are on it, but whoever they may be, Stuart
Murdoch isn't on it.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>Their first record "Tigermilk" was
released in 1995 in a pressing of a thousand copies and sold out immediately.
Without any form of publicity the group had already created a buzz in Glasgow.
Big record companies were ignored, the group signed a deal with newly formed
label "Jeepster Records" from London, which released the album
"If You're Feeling Sinister" in 1996. At first it was mainly Stuart
Murdochs voice which attracted attention. Tender, sometimes almost whispering,
he sounded like a cross between Nick Drake and Colin Blunstone. But it also had
intricate melodies and acoustic arranging to slowly fall in love with. And the
lyrics of course, the songs having titles like "Get Me Away From Here, I'm
Dying" and "Judy And The Dream Of Horses".</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>"Nobody writes them like they used to/ So
it might as well be me" Murdoch sings and he is right. It took a while
before the pure beauty of Belle & Sebastian was appreciated in Great
Britain, but even though the press are still muttering about the lack of
interviews, they are almost universally cherished.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>And now September 7, the day their third album "The Boy
With The Arab Strap" is released. The band is playing the Shepherd's Bush
Empire in London tonight. The venue, with a capacity of 3000, had sold out
within a day, even without an advertisement. An announcement on the Internet was
sufficient to cause a run on the tickets, even though the public hadn's heard a
single note from the new album.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>"The Boy With The Arab Strap" is a little musical
miracle. Murdoch's arrangements are even more refined. He gives ample space to
cello, violin, trumpet and, how sweet, recorder. And he has a sense of humor;
you can't keep from laughing when a bagpipe suddenly appears at the end of
"Sleep The Clock Around", a paean to lazying about.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>No sign of a bagpipe in London though. When the group takes
the stage, an hour late and full of nerves, and begins with a cautious
"Simple Things" it becomes clear that Belle & Sebastian have no
trouble reproducing their refined sound live. Stuart Murdoch and his crew don't
make an effort to impress. The sound is whisperingly soft and the songs caress
the listener like a spring breeze. Celloist Isobel Campbell, in school uniform,
gets the change to lisp her own song "Is It Wicked Not To Care?" and
Stevie Jackson gets to sing two songs too, including the hilaric "Seymour
Stein".</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Seymour Stein is the man from record company Sire, who has
launched Madonna's career and gave the Smiths a recording contract in the
States. He wanted to sign Belle & Sebastian too and invited the band to
dinner in Scotland.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>"Promises of fame, promises of fortune" Jackson
sings, who couldn't attend the dinner because he had to go to his dishwashing
job that night. The band didn't sign with Sire, but with Matador. "Have a
nice flight home/ It's a good day for flying" are the parting words to
Stein.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Stuart Murdoch sings the rest of the songs in an almost
apologizing way. It's as if he wants to say: well, I'm doing my thing here but I
can imagine you're bored senseless. It's with relief that he hides himself
behind the keyboards to do their price number: "The Boy With The Arab
Strap".</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>In the pub next to the venue the fans had had a chance to
study the lyrics to the album which they were finally able to buy that day. It
doesn't get clear who that Boy With The Arab Strap is. Is it Aidan Moffat after
all, the singer from the Scottish band Arab Strap, with whom celloist Isobel
Campbell has sung. Only writer Murdoch knows the answer, but he keeps silent. He
does mutter something about "the other band" in the introduction of
the song.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>A gig by a band of which you don't know the faces (like the
Residents) can be a disappointment. But Belle & Sebastian keep the mystery
that shrouds them intact, even on stage. Fans get enough material tonight to
bother each other with on the Internet: why did they start that late, why no
encore, and what was the meaning of tonight's closer, a cover of France Gall's
"Poupee De Cire, Poupee De Son"?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Gijsbert Kamer / De Volkskrant
25-9-1998</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>