Belle & Sebastian: Uncool, but it goes straight to the heart

You don’t really have to be a hardcore cynic to categorize Bill and Sebastian’s songs into the “influenced music” genre box. With their quirky, cool, yet light-feathered folk numbers, about heartbreak, and a sense of incomprehension or melancholy beauty, the seven-member band has won around singer Stuart Murdoch a loyal fan base that isn’t too small. Scots albums regularly land in the top ten of the British charts. Her excellent new record, “A Little Bit of Previous,” due out on Friday, also deserves a chart high entry like this one.

Old fashioned in the best sense

Recorded in the hometown of Glasgow, ‘A Bit of Previous’ turns out to be an old fashioned album in the best sense of the word: the sound is clear and compact, the melodies are neatly arranged and catch your eye instantly. In a pop world dominated by rap and autoplay, where interchangeability has unfortunately become a quality feature, that’s a really good thing.

Tracks like room-like, somewhat nostalgic pop music “Young Boy and Stupid”, “Do It For Your Country”, the cute country waltz “Deathbed of My Dreams” or the great closing song “Working Boy in New York City” are among the The best pieces ever scored by the Scots. What Stuart Murdoch and his colleagues are offering may not be great again. The whole thing. “A Little Bit of the Previous” intentionally misses the zeitgeist, but it’s heart-wrenching.