Maybe I'm in a minority here, but i think Belle & Sebastian have actually got better as time has gone on. If You're Feeling Sinister was a majestic set of songs, no doubt, but honestly, I feel they at least matched on Dear Catastrophe Waitress. This picks up where that left off - upbeat pop songs with the kind of lyrics only a British public schoolboy could write giving them the edge they so obviously have. Musically, this is arguably their best album yet - there's nothing as obviously catchy as the hook on "I'm A Cuckoo", but each of these songs contains at least 2 or 3 deeply memorable moments. And the songs? This is the band's most consistent offering yet. While previous albums were usually let down by a couple of tunes that bring the pace down, this has no such problem. Each of these 13 songs is a contendor to appear in my annual Top 50 Songs Of The Year list. A magical pop album, and there are too few albums we can say that about these days.
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