If You’re Feeling Sinister

November 5, 2024

HL: “The Stars of Track and Field”, “Me and the Major”, “The Fox and the Snow”, “Get Me Away From Here”, title track

Can’t decide between a 4 or a 5, so we’ll remain at 4 for now. Belle and Sebastian popped up pretty late on this list (with Tigermilk this summer), and yet I don’t find myself comparing them to the many other folky acts I have heard this year.
Very cozy 🛌
This one deserved 2 full listens; one for music and one for lyrics.

Wat had ik hier vroeger een hekel aan, zeg. Maar als ik het nu hoor, valt het me ook wel weer mee. Het heeft zeker kwaliteit. Het is alleen soms zo ontzettend saai.

Het past niet helemaal bij de rest, maar ik ben toch blij als er iets vrolijks voorbij komt als Me and the Major.

Bij elkaar moet ik het, ondanks mijn vooroordeel, toch een voldoende geven.

Feinfühliges Album, das die schottische Indie-Folk-Szene auf wunderbare Weise repräsentiert. Die Musik erinnert an das Erbe von The Beautiful South, jedoch mit einem einzigartigen, melancholischen Touch, der Belle and Sebastian auszeichnet.
Musikalisch bietet das Album eine reiche Palette an sanften, aber eindringlichen Melodien, die von akustischen Gitarren, Klavier und Streichern getragen werden. Die Arrangements sind sorgfältig ausgearbeitet und schaffen eine intime Atmosphäre, die den Hörer sofort in ihren Bann zieht. Besonders hervorzuheben sind die harmonischen Wechsel und die subtile Instrumentierung, die jedem Song eine besondere Tiefe verleihen.
Lyrisch überzeugt das Album durch seine erzählerische Qualität. Der Hauptsongwriter, schafft es, Geschichten zu erzählen, die sowohl persönlich als auch universell sind. In “The Fox in the Snow” wird die Einsamkeit und das Streben nach Zugehörigkeit thematisiert, während “Like Dylan in the Movies” eine Hommage an die Jugend und die Suche nach Identität darstellt. Die Texte sind poetisch und oft melancholisch, was dem Album eine nachdenkliche und zugleich tröstliche Note verleiht.
Das Album ist konzeptionell hervorragend arrangiert und bietet eine durchgehende Atmosphäre, die sowohl zum Nachdenken anregt als auch Freude bereitet. Es ist ein Werk, das man immer wieder gerne hört und das bei jedem Durchlauf neue Facetten offenbart.

It's such a small and intimate album, it feels too frivolous to be a part of this, but that's sort of why I love it. It is such a self contained universe that it makes for such a great album in a way that many albums are just either greatest hits or the one good song sticks out like a sore thumb. All these songs seem like one part to a whole.

Love B&S. This album is up there as one of their best (if not the best). 5/5

Sounds like something from the '60s

Starts off super cheery and light which I wasn't really expecting given the title. It keeps up that vibe throughout but if you listen to the lyrics it's not quite as sweet and happy as it would seem. I get a kind of 90s-pop meets the Smiths feeling from a lot of these songs. I think it's the vocals - it's almost like he's a sweeter voiced Morrissey.
Overall, this record is nice, sincere, uncomplicated but not to it's detriment, and very well recorded and produced. I dig it. 3.5/5 rounded up to 4.

Another Scottish album I have a big bias towards. In my opinion this is an indie pop masterpiece, clever lyrics catchy melodies. Not a bad song on it.

Sounds like the background soundtrack played during a TV montage. Vocals are overly saccharine. Music is pleasant and competently played. It simply doesn't elicit any sort of emotional reaction from me. It exists, thoughtlessly, apart from whatever else I'm doing while it is on. If I force myself to focus on it I just get bored.

I love these guys. So twee!

Jack Black refers to B&S as "old sad bastard music" in High Fidelity. Sounds about right. The singing is meh and the songs mostly aren't interesting (or in cases like the last two tracks are literally bad). Most definitely did not need to hear this before I die. I'm guessing this is something Millennial hipsters like. Not my cup o' Scottish tea.

Not really what I was expecting - expected something much more wet and bland but sounded quite Velvet Undergroundy at times. Good stuff!

Vaivatonta indietä! Tykkäsin enemmän kuin Tigermilkista. 4/5

B&S are one of those bands that I presumed were one-and-done. I loved them in the 90's, although this wasn't my favourite of their albums. A quick wikipedia search shows they are still together, still performing and still producing. Who knew?

Me and The Major is fun. Get Away From Me, I'm Dying and If You're Feeling Sinister is a good one two. In general this isn't really my thing, this mellow alternative. It's not off putting but I don't really feel like coming back to any of it with any regularity.

Scottish! A band I have seen and enjoyed live! A solid collection of songs, with a few stand outs!
Sounds like 4 stars 😃

I had gotten Belle & Sebastian's album Tigermilk a bit ago on this generator, but knew of this album from my partner's love for it, so was hoping that may enjoyment from their prior album would just be heightened more in this, and it absolutely was. It is hard to explain what makes this album so enjoyable, but the melancholy feeling with the easy listening really are heighted with the almost "locomotive" feeling of some songs, while knowing when to reel it back to really make the album feel fuller. It's just a feeling that isn't quite folk, alternative, or anything else, but its own thing that is really quite enjoyable. Excellent listen.

Myspop!

Favourite songs: the fox in the snow, mayfly, the stars of track and field

Least favourite songs: seeing other people, if you're feeling sinister, me and the major

The back half of this album was better than the front half.

3/5

I'm in touch with my gentle sensitive side and can appreciate this.