God Help the Girl: s/t

Label: Matador

Let’s just assume that you haven’t been reading about and living in anticipation of this record for months. So! The new Belle and Sebastian album is in fact this Stuart Murdoch-directed non-B&S affair, based on a story that’s been rattling around his indie-brain for a while. And it is with 100 per cent certainty that I inform every B&S fan out there that they will swoon over the moon for this at times abstract love-tale-in-14-movements. By “movements” I mean discrete, perfect songs, informed by classic soul, indie-pop and chanson, and orchestrated with an ultra-fine hand that very clearly belongs to Murdoch. The revelations are the trio of cool lady singers recruited for the God Help the Girl project, especially star-in-the-making Catherine Ireton, who takes many lead-vocal turns on the album. Her work on “Musician, Please Take Heed” is worth the price of admission alone. Flutter like mad, you indie hearts. (M.L. Thrope)