Late Developers – Matador
A sort of companion piece to last year’s 2022 release, A Bit of Previous, Belle and Sebastian recorded this LP during the same sessions. Is it possible that this collection is better than that? Yes, I think so!
The album kicks off with the stripped down singer/songwriter anthem, “Juliet Naked.” Think Billy Bragg does twee. Sarah Martin helms track 2, “Give A Little Time,” a dancey bouncer that could have fit nicely on 2017’s Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance. Track 5, “So in the Moment,” sounds like early era Belle and Sebastian – 60s garage grit, with Stevie Jackson handling the vocals. “The Evening Star,” (track 6) has a British soul beat, complete with horns. Track 7 is a lovelorn dance-pop gem. Track 10 – “When The Cynics Stare Back From the Wall” features a duet with Tracey-Ann Campbell of Camera Obscura… it is a classic sounding B&S tune that has the same introspective lyrics you’ve come to expect from Stuart Murdoch.
20+ years on into their odyssey as a band, they have tackled sex, religion, relationships, and death – all with a twee sensibility, mixed in with creative flourishes of electronica, 60s mod, and loungey chamber pop. This is an album that I’d suggest belongs at the upper echelon of their catalog. It just seems whole and varied, allowing all of the members of the band to stand out in their own right.
Track listing –
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
My favorites are 1**, 6**, 5**, 10**, 9*, and 11*.
– (h)earwitness