Write About Love

by Belle and Sebastian

Overview

Like their fellow indie class of 1996 alumnus Wes Anderson, Belle & Sebastian have created their own precious world out of the remnants of '60s pop culture, filtering it through the aesthetics of the '80s underground, maintaining a style and sensibility through shifting fashions. A new Belle & Sebastian album doesn't surprise; it reassures while managing to find a few new wrinkles in its vintage threads. Write About Love, their seventh studio album, is cut from the same cloth as its 2006 predecessor, The Life Pursuit -- it's also produced by Tony Hoffer, who gives Belle & Sebastian a crisp, clean, full sound without turning them antiseptic, with much of it swinging like London in the mid-'60s -- but it has its own distinct character. The group dials down the light glam highlights of The Life Pursuit in favor of revisiting a light Tamla-Motown bounce colored by other faded '60s touches like echo, cheap organs, and 12-string guitars, a slight shift in palette that is nevertheless as palpable as the mild silver-screen obsession that runs underneath these songs, surfacing in the lead character of "Calculating Bimbo" and elsewhere in duets with Norah Jones and Carey Mulligan. Mainly, though, what impresses about Write About Love is its consistency, both within the album itself and within Belle & Sebastian's work at large. Song for song, it's as strong as any of their records -- if anything, these 11 songs are the tightest they have ever been -- and Stuart Murdoch remains faithful to the aesthetic he essayed at the outset of his career, finding sustenance in the fine details, his obsessions carrying the weight of passion. And unlike Anderson, Murdoch's music is never insular -- after all, he fronts a big group, one where other singers take the lead and that group spirit remains warm, even infectious, even when the sound essentially remains the same. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	10/07/2014
Label:	Matador
UPC:	0744861094494

Tracks

1. I Didn't See it Coming
2. Come on Sister
3. Calculating Bimbo
4. I Want the World to Stop
5. Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John
6. Write About Love
7. I'm Not Living in the Real World
8. The Ghost of Rockschool
9. Read the Blessed Pages
10. I Can See Your Future
11. Sunday's Pretty Icons

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Belle and Sebastian   Primary Artist
Stephanie O'Keefe   French Horn
Daphne Chen   Violin
Eric Gorfain   Violin,Conductor
Melissa Reiner   Violin
Wes Precourt   Violin
John Krovoza   Cello
Amy Wickman   Violin
Danielle Ondarza   French Horn
Bruce Otto   Trombone
Norah Jones   Vocals
Lauren Chipman   Viola
Matt Cooker   Cello
Stephanie Stetson   French Horn
Noah Gladstone   Trombone
Carey Mulligan   Vocals
Richard Dodd   Cello

Technical Credits

Eric Gorfain   Leader
Sarah Martin   Arranger
Stuart Murdoch   Liner Notes,Photography
Todd Burke   Engineer
Mick Cooke   Arranger
Tony Hoffer   Mixing,Producer,Programming
Frank Arkwright   Mastering
Cameron Lister   Assistant Engineer
Marisa Privitera   Assistant