If You’re Feeling Sinister

It was ok. Felt a little twee. Probably not revisiting purposefully.

Gentle and playful, artfully written and arranged, full of melodic twists and dynamic turns, funny and bittersweet - pure indie pop perfection.

This was ok. Kind of generic sounding. 2/5

The last album of theirs I rated (Tigermilk) I was much more impressed by. I was worried about it being a bit indie wank, but it ultimately won me over with its diversity and creativity.

This one is basically the same, just without the creativity and diversity. That is, It’s JUST indie wank. Soft, floaty, well-meaning, twee vocals, and no real variance across the whole album. With a few exceptions, all the songs pretty much sound the same to me.

Unfortunately this one rubbed me up the wrong way a bit. No thanks.

More bang average, self-important indie that I'll never spend another second of my life thinking about again.

This might be the cheekiest entry on the list. It's like the editors know there's too much 60s/70s flower power, ren faire shit on this list, so they snuck in a 90s abomination that essentially just sounds like 60s/70s flower power, ren faire shit.

I was right there in the thick of the Glasgow music scene in the mid 90s, grabbing pints at the 13th Note and watching this whole indie pop explosion happen firsthand, so listening to If You're Feeling Sinister is like catching a ghost in a bottle for me. It perfectly captures that specific, hyper-local era. It's a masterclass in intimate, indie pop, built on Stuart Murdoch's conversational, Nick Drake-esque vocals, lush chamber arrangements, think delicate pianos, violins, and even a stylophone, and incredibly clever storytelling. For those of us who were actually there, these brilliant melodies felt like our secret, wistful world was being pressed straight onto vinyl.

I Don't have much German, but it is a wonderful language. There is one word in particular that means face in need of a fist. The singer's voice would create a new word that means a voice in need of a fist. It seems that this is the second album from Tegan and Sarah that I have encountered here, I would have been happy to stop after the 1st.

I was debating between a 3 and a 4 for this one. The final track, Judy And The Dream Of Horses was what tipped it over the edge. Great song.

Overall it was a really enjoyable album but I didn’t like it anywhere near as much as Tigermilk. That was a five star album all day long for me.

*Pleasant sounding with good instrumentation
*A little too low key for me to love more than a 3

Oh no. I hate most 60s folk music. There was no reason for a band in the 90s to try to sound like that. This is so precious, in the worst sense of the word. Really annoying, twee, me no like.

I've heard this one a few times over the years - I'm just not in to the singer's voice.

Not unpleasant or unlistenable, but I suspect it's as trendy and has as much substance as the froth from soy milk single origin latte.

Nice light pop music

I always want to like Belle & Sebastian more. But it’s still a very good album.

1.2

A different type of music at the right time. Listenable. 3+

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to a 5.

I think someone’s enjoyment of this album, for the most part, will come in the desire to understand its lyrics. For people who aren’t big on the lyrical side of things, this album will probably pass over the ears with some solid, occasionally lispy delivery & some traditional mid-90s post-grunge instrumentation behind it, with slight elements of shoegaze & a loose ‘lo-fi ska’ feel behind it. Enjoyable for its 41 minutes, but not as satisfying as it could be on just those parts of the album alone. That’s where the lyricism really enhances this album. I’ll be the first person to advocate for lyrics a lot of the time, especially when there’s effort put into them, but even I can admit this album in particular is a little too lyrically-driven. However, I do think they’re rewarding as hell if you can pick up on what they’re going for. It’s a little flowery at points, but they do try to make the meanings as clear as they can without explicitly spelling it all out.

Whether it’s an inability to be sexually comfortable with one’s self, a half-closeted / half-open gay relationship, a defiant spirit towards an older generation, the pick-me vibes of a girl walking through the woods, a plea to get out of a lonely slump, a hopeless romantic finding their victories in literature, the insidious nature of religion as it relates to suicide, someone waiting for an ex to be single again for a second chance, the desire for something more intimate than a surface-level love, or sex in one’s dreams being better than the real thing, this album’s ability to find & capture elements that navigate the complexities of the teenage years, at least as written by a chronically fatigued track runner, feels remarkable. That’s where the lyricism elevates this album – the pictures painted build up really well from verse to verse, & the choruses feel like flipping a page just to paint the next part of the story. Is it a little too “YA novel”-coded? I mean, probably, but as with the last album, I’m just kind of a sucker for these things when they’re done well.

So, with all that praise, why a 4.5 bumped up to a 5 and not a flat 5 or something higher? Again, it’s just because it’s a little too lyrically driven to cover up some occasionally flatter instrumentals; that, and I don’t know if it’s necessarily structured super well as an actual album experience. The push & pull of these tracks from a musical standpoint isn’t quite as dynamic as their lyrics are, so there is a slight sense of homogenization that underlines some back-to-back tracks on this album. That said, it’s an incredibly easy bump up to a 5 for me, just because I fuck with everything this album is going for. Stuart Murdoch’s one hell of a songwriter, and if “Tigermilk” is supposed to be even better than this, I can’t wait until we get it. I’m very impressed, given that this is by a band I hadn’t heard of until today, and for me, it’s a bump up to a strong 5.

Played this shit three times

Not as good as the other entry from Belle & Sebastian.