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Average: 4.0 (45 ratings)
- Date Released: April 21, 2003
- Genre: Alternative/Punk
- Style: Indie Rock
- Label: Matador
The two most miserable men in Scotland.
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We Say...
Many have tried and many have failed to find a suitable soundbite to describe the oddball meanderings of Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton. From "post-folk indie" to "nu miserablism" to "electro acoustic," attempts to define them continued through an 11-year partnership that ended in 2006, but the duo remained the unpredictable originals they'd been since first starting out in Falkirk. The long, rambling instrumentals, the sullen solitude of sound and songs of seedy squalor identified them early as anti-stars who ignored the fashions of the day to follow their own noses — and they were unlike anybody else as a result. This was the fifth of their six studio albums and it was one of their more controversial, an often confusing ragbag of ideas full of surprises — bagpipes, slide guitars, singalongs, electro beats, screeching guitars, chugging grooves and one track, "The Shy Retirer," with a poppy bounce. This is an album that keeps you guessing.
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They Say...
The entire recorded output of this Scottish duo can be summed up by the title of the second song on this, their fifth studio album: "Meanwhile, at the Bar, a Drunkard Muses." However, for the first time in a long time, the music that supports the musing can't be reduced to a phrase like "slowly, over a putting drum machine, a guitar chimes." Surprisingly, this uncharacteristically scatterbrained album follows solo projects from Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton; while that kind of hiatus normally allows group members to purge ideas not suited for their regular outlet, it only seemed to foster restlessness in Arab Strap's case. All that was really learned from those solo projects was that Middleton wanted to sing and that Moffat, for once, didn't. The first change that's evident here is the tempo variation; those who bought the album on vinyl likely figured someone left the turntable speed at 45 once the first song, "The Shy Retirer," began whipping by. Nothing else is quite as speedy, but if the duo's previous albums were as steady as a ship on still waters, this one is on choppy waters. The choppiness is made all the more detectable through the constant changes in approach, like the way the pungent dirge of "Fucking Little Bastards" (with squalling guitars and battered human drums) gives way to the elegant dreariness of "Peep Peep" (with a quietly pulsing mechanical beat and a violin that escalates to a near-burst at the end). Slide guitars, bagpipe instrumentals, folky fireside singalongs -- there's not much that the album doesn't have. All the restless energy adds up to a few too many diversions. It could be said that Arab Strap records should be messy. However, when they're this agitated and unfocused, they can't be settled into.
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You Say...
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| 01. |  |
The Shy Retirer |
4:04 |  |
| 02. | |
Meanwhile, At the Bar, A Drunkard Muses |
2:25 | |
| 03. | |
Fucking Little Bastards |
6:15 | |
| 04. | |
Peep-Peep |
3:10 | |
| 05. | |
Flirt |
3:22 | |
| 06. | |
Who Named the Days? |
4:22 | |
| 07. | |
Loch Leven Intro |
2:28 | |
| 08. | |
Loch Leven |
3:17 | |
| 09. | |
Glue |
3:12 | |
| 10. | |
Act of War |
4:10 | |
| 11. | |
Serenade |
3:50 | |
| 12. | |
The Week Never Starts Round Here |
2:17 | |
| 13. | |
Pica Luna |
2:56 | |
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Credits
- Charlie Clarke - ? // Arab Strap - Main Performer // Frank Arkwright - Mastering // Willie Campbell - ? // Aidan Moffat - Performer // Bill Wells - ? // Malcolm Middleton - Performer // Alan Wylie - ? // Mike Mogis - ? // Geoff Allan - Engineer // Geoff Allan - Mixing // Barry Burns - ? // John Mauchline - ? // Conor Oberst - ? // Stacey Seivewright - ? // Calum Maclean - Engineer // Jenny Reeve - ?
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