Belle And Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap LP

"The Boy with the Arab Strap" twinkles innocently with all the charm of a wind-up music box - but only if you don’t listen to the lyrics (or look up what an Arab Strap is).

The dichotomy between Stewart Murdoch’s tender adolescent vocals, the sweet, sincere instrumentation, and often lude lyrics make Belle and Sebastian so alluring. A vivid portrait of the internal and external contradiction of growing up. To the world, you are still a child but inside you are shaken up bottle of carbonated hormones ready to explode.

For the first time, Murdoch shares the songwriting credits and vocal duties with band members Isobell Campbell, Stevie Jackson and Stuart David and the album is much richer because of it. Maudlin cellos, sparkling xylophones, ecclesiastical organs and a touch of bagpipe decorate the album. It is gorgeously ornate and antique, you can almost smell the mahogany.

"The Boy with the Arab" is like a storybook, moral tales and grim vignettes told through the eyes of a wide-eyed child not ready for the big bad world - it is wonderfully detailed, hilarious, aesthetically enthralling and human.

Tracklist:

1. It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career
2. Sleep the Clock Around
3. Is It Wicked Not to Care?
4. Ease Your Feet in the Sea
5. A Summer Wasting
6. Seymour Stein
7. A Space Boy Dream
8. Dirty Dream Number Two
9. The Boy with the Arab Strap
10. Chickfactor
11. Simple Things
12. The Rollercoaster Ride

About this product: this is pressed on black vinyl and comes in a gatefold sleeve.