Monday at the Hug & Pint
Arab Strap
Published by Under The Radar

With a great title and cover rivaling Belle & Sebastian’s If You’re Feeling Sinister, Monday at the Hug & Pint, once you’ve gotten it down, doesn’t quite match the devilish style points on display. Okay, Aidan Moffat is the most blunt lyricist in sad music. He is to inappropriate remarks as Marilyn Manson is to big-ticket desecration. (like, Jeezus, what’ll he do next?!) But with Moffat there’s a laziness that can be as musically uninviting as it is refreshing. He and multi-instrument man Malcolm Middleton toss out convention like a hooligan’s empty lager, but there just might be a reason no one else is writing songs like these. Their creations are like harmonic hangovers trying to get to work on time. String dirges meddle with throwaway machine beats, and mix-desk dins unload like fits, but such frayed decompositions at least speak to the musty resignation that seems to follow these guys wherever they go. Middleton’s acoustic and slide work keep things interesting, and there are beautiful moments tucked among lines like “They’ve seen me in the shower with shit down my legs / They’ve seen me searching a stranger’s house for drugs.” If it’s been a while since you hit play on a lovely mess, step right up. (www.arabstrap.co.uk)

home | bio | resume | writing | email