The Boy with the Arab Strap

By Annie Holub Catalyst

Send comments to: catalyst@wildcat.arizona.edu

Belle and Sebastian The Boy with the Arab Strap (Matador)

Like the way French words on a shampoo bottle seem to make your hair cleaner, Belle and Sebastian's soft songs make the world of new music refreshing. Their name comes from a novel by Madame Cecile Aubrey about a boy and his dog and their adventures, which was made into an animated children's TV show in the '70s.

Likewise, The Boy with the Arab Strap has its own adventures. On the whole, this album is more cohesive and diverse and immensely better than Belle and Sebastian's last album, If You're Feeling Sinister, each song on The Boy with the Arab Strap could be a story, with characters, plot, background... "He had a stroke at the age of 24/It could have been a brilliant career," sings lead singer, writer, guitar player Stuart Murdoch in "It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career." The title track is equally narrative: "A mile and half takes a long time/the odour of old prison food takes a long time/to pass you by/when you've been inside."

The poetics of Belle and Sebastian spill over from the lyrics into the music; with acoustic guitars and eight members to add eight times the musicality, it's all very beautiful and artistic and clarifying - like really good French shampoo.