Belle And Sebastian - Late Developers (2023)

Belle and Sebastian hit the ground running in 2023 with new album Late Developers.
Arriving almost back-to-back to 2022’s Top Ten album ‘A Bit of Previous’, ‘Late Developers’ comes on like its predecessor’s sun-kissed cousin. It is a full-hearted embrace of the band's brightest tendencies that is not only fresh and immediate but possessing of that Belle and Sebastian je ne sais quoi of a group that will always be there for you with the perfect word or melody for the moment, while admitting tunefully that “Every girl and boy / each one is a misery” (“When The Cynics Stare Back From The Wall”).

“Juliet Naked” channels frantic Billy Bragg-energy with rugged electric guitar and a football stadium worthy chant from Stuart Murdoch. The aforementioned “When The Cynics Stare Back From The Wall” is an unearthed 1994-era pre-Belle and Sebastian gem, with help from Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell. "So In The Moment” is breathless psychedelic pop that is arguably one of Stevie Jackson’s best ever songs. “When We Were Very Young” is Smiths-esque jangle rock that is bittersweet, devotional and yearning: “I wish I could be content / With the football scores / I wish I could be content with my daily chores / With my daily worship of the sublime”.

Stuart Murdoch and his mates in Glasgow's long-running pop auteurs Belle and Sebastian sound more jubilant today than ever. In 2021, after 26 years and 11 albums together, COVID forced Murdoch (vocals, guitar) along with original members, Stevie Jackson (guitar), Sarah Martin (vocals, violin), Chris Geddes (keyboards) and Richard Colburn (drums) as well as relatively new additions Bobby Kildea (guitar) and Dave McGowan (guitar, bass) to stay home in Scotland and record a new album. Some songs turned into A Bit of Previous, released in May 2022, and another album's worth of music from those fertile sessions has now become Late Developers. Far from being an odds and sods collection, these 11 tracks are an equally rich lode of Belle and Sebastian exploring pop music's prismatic spectrum. Echoes of the band's folkier past appear in "Will I Tell You a Secret," where a harpsichord effect on the keyboard gives the tune a 1960s chamber pop flavor. With horns, backing vocals and the pace of a classic R&B ballad "The Evening Star" changes the focus to Motown with a dash of Memphis soul snap. Gush is the emotional response that comes to mind when the handclaps, chiming guitars and luscious vocal harmonies of "Give A Little Time'' make their case: "Speculate, accumulate/ Embrace the love, erase the hate." But not all the words here ignore the more jagged aspects of the emotional inner life that has always been Belle and Sebastian's constant subject. In the sweet and sour vein of what their official bio calls "coaxing you towards inner peace with … a melody that lifts you out of the murk of all that terrifying truth," the very Smiths-esque "When We Were Very Young" finds Murdoch, who now has "kids and dystopia," lamenting against a perky melody: "I wish I could be content/ With the football scores/ I wish I could be content with my daily chores/ With my daily worship of the sublime/ I wish I could walk away/ From my scars and sores." Produced by the band and Brian McNeill with help from a quartet of mixers, the result is bright, full, and in-your-face. The cleverly titled Late Developers is filled with joy and now the wisdom of age; Belle and Sebastian continue to make smart, stylish pop music look easy.

Tracklist
1 Juliet Naked
2 Give a Little Time
3 When We Were Very Young
4 Will I Tell You a Secret
5 So in the Moment
6 The Evening Star
7 When You're Not With Me
8 I Don't Know What You See in Me
9 Do You Follow
10 When the Cynics Stare Back from the Wall
11 Late Developers