Album Review - Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit

Belle & Sebastian has had an improbable history, but against all odds, 
it still is making albums -- surprisingly great ones, at that. Begun by 
Stuart Murdoch as a means of fulfilling a course requirement for a class 
about the music business, the group somehow managed not only to coalesce 
into a functional unit but also to craft some rather extraordinary 
material along the way. Despite its initial desire to fly under the 
radar, the ensemble quickly found itself enveloped by a rapidly growing 
cult of fans, but the added pressure of trying to get lightning to 
strike the same spot on multiple occasions nearly caused the band to 
implode.

After stumbling slightly in its quest to expand its horizons on Fold 
Your Hands Child You Walk Like a Peasant, Belle & Sebastian sank under 
the weight of the jumbled mess that was Storytelling, its only utterly 
inessential outing. Seemingly down for the count and with little to 
lose, the collective turned to fabled producer Trevor Horn for help in 
escaping its own tedium. The resulting Dear Catastrophe Waitress, while 
not perfect, was a dramatic recasting of the ensemble's stylistic 
approach. Better still, the group rediscovered the joy of making 
records, and sounding relaxed and confident, it polished its stage 
presence, took to the road, and began to script a delightful second 
chapter to its already storied career.

Although its latest endeavor The Life Pursuit draws from an equally 
broad spectrum of influences, the material is presented in a far more 
cohesive fashion. It helps, of course, that the opening track Act of the 
Apostle resurfaces later in the set as Act of the Apostle II, 
intrinsically tying together the disparate strands of its quirky 
character sketches to form a loosely-knit conceptual work about sin and 
redemption.

This is an excerpt.  To read the complete review, please visit:

http://www.musicbox-online.com/reviews-2006/bas-life.html