Arab Strap

Arab Strap

“It’s about hopelessness and darkness,” says Aidan Moffat. “But in a fun  way.” The Arab Strap frontman is speaking about the band’s 7th studio album and their first since 2005’s The Last Romance. The pioneering Falkirk duo of Moffat and Malcolm Middleton called it a day in 2006 but got back together 10 years later to perform a series of  acclaimed and sold out shows. “We really enjoyed doing those gigs,” recalls  Middleton. “So it made sense to try writing together again”.

Prior to splitting up the band released a string of acclaimed releases  spanning albums such as Philophobia, The Red Thread and Monday At The Hug  and Pint, several EPs and that most difficult of tasks: a genuinely  stunning live album via Mad for Sadness.

Despite them being a pinnacle group of the era, Moffat makes it clear that the aim is not to “recapture the 90s” but instead to create a distinctly new album, with new tools, sounds and a forward moving sense of exploration. “This album feels like its own new thing to me,” he says. “It’s definitely Arab Strap, but an older and wiser one, and quite probably a better one.”

Across the 11 tracks, the band have tapped into their core sonic foundations and what made so many people fall for them but also stretched it out into new terrain. The deft mix of post-rock soundscapes, subtle electronics, clicking drum beats, swelling strings and Moffat’’s incomparable half-sung, half-spoken vocals are all present, but so too is a variety of new additions from blasts of woozy saxophone to disco grooves  and a rich immersive production that plunges you deep into the stories.  “We’ve had enough distance from our earlier work to reappraise and dissect  the good and bad elements of what we did,” says Middleton. “Not many bands get to do this, so it’s great to split up.”

The album marries the darker underbelly of life, and its lingering sense of hopelessness, with a quiet buoyancy, which coupled with the expansive sense of sonic experimentation results in something as introspective as it is enlivening. As Middleton told the Guardian when they profiled the band upon news of their return, “There’s no point getting back together to release mediocrity.”