Late Developers

About

Belle and Sebastian went into the pandemic with an LP's worth of material. After scrapping all of it in 2020 and rewriting from the ground up, they came <i>out</i> of the pandemic with one of their best studio albums in more than a decade—their ninth, 2022’s <i>A Bit of Previous</i>, recorded at their converted rehearsal space in Glasgow. So it’s equally surprising and impressive that while they were making that record, a 10th was also in the work, and it arrives less than a year later. “It was a very flexible, very creative time,” singer-songwriter Stuart Murdoch told Apple Music at the time of <i>A Bit of Previous</i>’ release. Indeed. Murdoch envisioned <i>A Bit of Previous</i> like an ’80s Go-Betweens album, imbued with all shades of emotion as it dealt with the folly of youth, spiritual yearning, and the things you wish you’d said. <i>Late Developers</i> doesn’t veer too much from that, thematically, but it does feel like the band stepping out into the sunlight. Aside from the minor-key raw energy of opener “Juliet Naked” (which was originally written for the 2018 Ethan Hawke film of the same name), these are generally bright, upbeat indie-pop tunes—the sort that the band has been perfecting since the mid-’90. In fact, one actual song from that era—“When the Cynics Stare Back From the Wall,” which Murdoch wrote in 1994—is unearthed here as a duet with Camera Obscura vocalist (and fellow Glaswegian) Tracyanne Campbell. There’s also the innocent, ditty-like “Will I Tell You a Secret,” penned in the early 2000. .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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