Excepting a few songs from Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant (“I Fought in a War,” “There’s Too Much Love,” “Nice Day for a Sulk”), “Marx & Engels” (off the I’m Waking Up to Us EP), the Avalanches remix of “I’m a Cuckoo,” and the whole of the Books EP, I haven’t much liked Belle & Sebastian’s output of the past decade. This new song, off their forthcoming album, Belle & Sebastian Write About Love, does nothing reverse that trend. I don’t care for the glossier ’70s AM sound of the Trevor Horn/Tony Hoffer productions, I miss the more muted arrangements, the wispy twee of their early records. I couldn’t even tell you if the new songs are any good; I just can’t even seem to hear them properly. Every time I try, I just give up and put on one of the old albums instead. Still, though, those first three full-lengths and four EPs they did in the ’90s are greatest of all time material, and I would not hesitate for a moment to go see them when they come through Seattle next month. New material be damned.
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