REVIEW: Belle And Sebastian, If You're Feeling Sinister (Enclave)

- Patrick Carmosino

If you're feeling charmingly and cleverly sinister is more like it. This septet from Glasgow recalls the wit and whimsy of many classic artists that have come before them...a dark Go-Betweens perhaps? or a not dark enough Magnetic Fields...pop/folk sensibilities that haven't been felt since the Woodentops...the perceptions of Nick Drake. Surely it's all too much a short cut to thinking that causes these comparisons but they are meant quite complimentary.

I can get a bit more into it and tell you that singer/songwriter Stuart Murdoch's cuplets rank up there with any of the other 'poet laureates' of rock (yikes!). The l.p.'s opener "The Stars Of Track And Field" finds Murdoch rhyming "discus" with "Widnes" which is perhaps the best twosome since a tall, right lurky lad from a town somewhat south of Glasgow rhymed "spanner" with "piano". "Like Dylan In The Movies" matches some great Lou Reed-style third person-isms ("Lisa's kissing men like a long walk home") with a title whose simile matches the best of what Reed woirshipper Lloyd Cole has ever come up with. The title track's "She was into S&M and bible studies. Not everyone's cup of tea she would admit to me." is one "Sinister's" best two-fers.

The music is filled with folk/indie pop ethics and sixties pop fun The fact that "Sinister" is chock full of major chord zaniness is the biggest surprise since Johnny Marr's happy, jangly chimes were a match for Morrissey's misery. The dry, less-than-cosmopolitan feels are provided by guitar, bass, drums and a small string section as well as tasteful vibes and things like that. Belle and Sebastian, like their fellow Scots the Pastels have thrived on their relative obscurity. This makes it all the more pleasantly surprising that they are in the process of gaining a small but definite cult following in the US, gaining the crowd that remembers the virtues of the late great Drake and his ilk. Much kudos to a label whose founder's claim to fame is signing Guns 'N' Roses, for seeing the values and the art in a group like B&S. But of course...most of the kudos to Mr. Murdoch and this year's top batch of musical misfits.