The tenth studio album from Belle & Sebastian is here and it's arrived at a good moment. For many of us, the stress of the COVID era has been a bit much. Simple human pleasures seem to be as elusive as they ever were, possibly more so, while the normalcy of enjoying a new record is sometimes only left to those brave enough to fight the hordes on a Record Store Day. A Bit of Previous offers up indie pleasures that recall those of the Nineties and earlier. The Matador release charms and reassures, while serving up proof that Stuart Murdoch and his team still have a few surprises up their cardigan-draped sleeves.
From the tubthumbing "Still Ill"-isms of lead single "Unnecessary Drama" to the lilting regrets of "Young & Stupid", we're in somewhat familiar territory, only it's territory which comes from different eras of this band. Murdoch steers "Do It for Your Country" into elegance, a faint echo of If You're Feeling Sinister gems here, while "If They're Shooting at You" adds a bit of that mood from the whole God Help the Girl project. If it sounds like A Bit of Previous is a bit schizo, you're probably right, but that very same variety gives this record a propulsion and purpose recent long-players from this lot didn't have.
And if this one was recorded in fits and starts during lockdown, a fact that might explain how this feels stylistically a bit too varied, things keep moving. And I think that's something to applaud here. Not every cut works, and Stevie Jackson's "Deathbed of My Dreams" really felt like a B-side to this listener, but most of it does, sometimes wonderfully so. "Talk to Me Talk to Me", a real highlight here, mixes an Associates-ish electro-pop spin with Murdoch's modestly impassioned vocals. The cut whirs and coos and is a marvel of energy for a band unfairly pegged as mopes. Elsewhere, "Working Boy in New York City" tees up a tune that's a bit similar to pieces of The Boy With the Arab Strap but with brighter production. It's a bit smooth and polished, maybe unnecessarily so, but it's a lovely bit of business, and one of my faves here along with "Come on Home", the Belles' stab at The Style Council.
A Bit of Previous feels like pieces of a record, sure, but it works. You could easily shuffle this up a bit and tinker with the running order and get the same results, but it remains a release that deserves your attention, and demands careful listening all at once. Effortlessly spry in spots, deliberately introspective in others, A Bit of Previous reminds again how Stuart Murdoch and company have successfully updated the tropes of indie and pointed new directions for anoraks to explore. And you can almost dance to parts of it.
A Bit of Previous is out on Friday via Matador.
[Photo: Hollie Fernando]