BELLE & SEBASTIAN - FOLD YOUR HAND CHILD, YOU WALK LIKE A PEASANT 2000

Amongst B&S fans and critics alike, the debate over which album is the best could go on and on forever...probably long after the band finally calls it quits. When you've got in one corner the sunshine-soaked "The Boy With the Arab Strap," the solid, yet strangely menacing, "If You're Feeling Sinister" in another and this fantastic culmination of the "Belle and Sebastian sound" in yet another, it's hard to pinpoint one particular album as the best.

What certainly is a tough argument to make may be the most unnecessary. If there's anything that this band is truly good at is being consistent with their sound and their apparent motive for making music. The often-called "twee kids" and their baroque chamber-pop style has virtually been defined by B&S and you can hear it in its glory throughout their discography. They've been paving a new road with excellent LPs and EPs for us loyal fans to enjoy for years ahead. "Unique" is an understatement.

With that said, "Fold Your Hands, Child, You Walk Like a Peasant" only enforces the idea that when Belle and Sebastian are "in the zone," they don't let up. The wide variety found on this particular album (yet still maintaining the light, 60's-ish sound) is irresistible. "The Wrong Girl," for example, may be the most infectious B&S single to date. (Including the single-ridden "Dear Catastrophe Waitress" album!) Tracks like "The Chalet Lines" and "The Model" are classic B&S, yet sound fresh and new like an album truly should.

Though B&S have definitely carved a niche into popular music with their intelligent, yet vibrant and playful, sound, they continue to break ahead into all the nooks and crannies of their style to give us something wonderful to fall in love with...with each and every album. "Fold Your Hands..." is simply another strong (I say strongest!) example of how one band's initiative is too pure and precise to be broken.

Tracks :

1 I Fought In A War
2 Model, The
3 Beyond This Sunrise
4 Waiting For The Moon To Rise
5 Don't Leave The Light On, Baby
6 Wrong Girl, The
7 Chalet Lines, The
8 Nice Day For A Sulk
9 Woman's Realm
10 Family Tree
11 There's Too Much Love

Link : @

Ripped by : evermoreblues
Artwork Included