New Music: Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
By Tristan
If Dear Catastrophe Waitress, Belle and Sebastian’s 2003 release, was their second perfect album then The Life Pursuit is Belle and Sebastian’s second near perfect follow up to a perfect album. Rumors circulated for months before this release that it would be heavily influenced by electronic - pop groups like New Order. These rumors didn’t come altogether as much of a surprise considering Chris Geddes version of “2002 - A Hit Song” on The Now Sound Redesigned and the growing popularity of electronic music in America. The truth, however, is slightly different: The Life Pursuit isn’t influenced as much by The Pet Shop Boys as it is David Bowie’s Low era. Here, Belle and Sebastian re-imagine what Low and Heroes would have sounded like if Brian Eno didn’t own the second half of those albums and Bowie was obsessed with 70’s rock.
Tracks like “White Collar Boy,” and “Sukie in the Graveyard” are distinctly electro-glam, but maintain the themes Belle and Sebastian have been exploring for the last decade. “Sukie in the Graveyard” might just be the most definitively Belle and Sebastian song they have recorded since If You’re Feeling Sinister: with themes about outsider-ism and eccentricity in a teenage girl’s life as well as Stuart Murdoch’s quintessential hints toward sexual politics. Smashed in-between these two tracks is “The Blues are still Blue,” which could pass as Bowie in his Aladdin Sane form, and features Murdoch’s vocals sounding just like Bowie in his prime.
Make no mistake, though, The Life Pursuit does see some much needed musical exploration from Belle and Sebastian. The faux-disco of “Song for Sunshine,” and synthesized rocker “We are the Sleepyheads,” stretch the typical influences that Belle and Sebastian tend to fall back on. Even if these aren’t the best songs on the album it is interesting to see them still taking chances after six releases and eleven years as a band.
Bandleader Stuart Murdoch also has the handful of horn-driven folk songs one has come to expect from a Belle and Sebastian release. Highlights include the first single “Another Sunny Day,” which replicates a classic Murdoch melody and places it in electric rock terms and L.A. folk rock closer “Mornington Cresent.”
The Life Pursuit has a few moments that may represent Belle and Sebastian as a band better than Dear Catastrophe Waitress did, but it still falls slightly short when compared to instant classics like “Piazza, New York Catcher,” and “If She Wants Me.” On the whole, though, it is a thoroughly enjoyable listen that will keep die-hards supplanted on the edge of their seats waiting for the EPs from “The Life Pursuit” to finally come.