In Which We Describe The State We Were In

God Help This Girl

by ELEANOR MORROW

After a faith healer 'cured' his chronic fatigue syndrome, Stuart Murdoch formed Belle & Sebastian in 1996. He worked as a caretaker until 2003. In between he out-indied himself and made several great records.

Along with compatriot Stuart David recorded some demos with Stow College music professor Pilar Duplack, which were picked up by the college's Music Business course that produces and releases one single each year on the college's label, Electric Honey. As the band had a number of songs already and the label were extremely impressed with the demos, Belle & Sebastian were allowed to record a full-length album, which was named Tigermilk. Murdoch once described the band as a "product of botched capitalism."

Although a lot of people think he's gay because of his lyrics, Murdoch is straight.

My friend Anna loved Belle & Sebastian, and when I expressed my skepticism (I was 15 years old and extremely self-involved) she refused to speak to me until I listened to them. Afterwards, we found great satisfaction in growing weary of the world together and singing in a comforting falsetto.

In my high school, driving around a lot and acting depressed was the main source of entertainment. Occasionally a keg would be present, more often one would be mentioned but never actually appear.

"Ease Your Feet In The Sea" - Belle & Sebastian (mp3)

"Sukie In The Graveyard" - Belle & Sebastian (mp3)

"The Blues Are Still Blue" - Belle & Sebastian (mp3)

We didn't know, we couldn't know, that our laissez-faire existence would be shattered by George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and the entire questionable 2002-present period. Our shattered illusions had yet smaller pieces to separate into. Eventually they became electrons, and caused an economic collapse. I should testify before Congress.

I still remember seeing a joint for the first time. It was 1996. I cut my foot on a rock I was so high. We listened to "The State I Am In" over 7,000 times in a row, then went to get breakfast.

When we first got our hands on If You're Feeling Sinister we drove around in Anna's Volvo (she was a year older than I was, and much prettier) and screamed at people like it was the new AC/DC. Soon enough we had memorized the lyrics to "Get Me Away From Here I'm Dying" and during the following school year we used lines from the songs as cagey rejoinders to boys. At least Anna did — she was coming into her prime. I still found it hilarious when she answered anything I asked by singing, "It may as well be me!"

"For the Price of A Cup of Tea" - Belle & Sebastian (mp3)

"To Be Myself Completely" - Belle & Sebastian (mp3)

"The Fox In The Snow" - Belle & Sebastian (mp3)

Murdoch came in and wrote more music for Todd Solondz' Storytelling after the film had already been cut. They didn't really get along with Todd.

When we first saw it, it was a rambling two-and-a-half hour thing in two parts and we couldn't really understand where the two parts came together. I don't think the director could either, but we still liked the film a lot. Over time, about an hour of the film was cut. We knew as we were working how much of our music he would use.

"Dirty Dream Number Two" - Belle and Sebastian (mp3)

"Is It Wicked Not To Care?" - Belle and Sebastian (mp3)

"Morning Crescent" - Belle and Sebastian (mp3)

Stuart and Co. kept running against the capitalist mix-up. I'd moved onto college, and Anna was working as a waitress in a local coffee shop. I hated school, Anna hated her life. This, I suppose, was the natural progression of things, but we did not know at the time that the glories of the late 90s had passed through our fingertips and we weren't even in a position to appreciate it!

Now Murdoch's written a movie like Glen Hansard:

The main protagonist is Eve, the girl who sings most of the songs on the record. She starts off in a mental hospital, at her lowest ebb. She’s not too crazy but she’s crazy enough. She’s in there for a long time and she discovers that she can write songs and she sees that as her way of getting out of the trouble she’s in. She makes it out of hospital eventually and runs into James and Cassie and the three of them make music over the course of a summer and become really close.

I'm sure I'll be running out to see that one. But whatever, someone has to write nostalgia. I guess the 1990s are now the 1970s. It depends on where you're staring at them from, and how hard you're looking. There's no wave rolling back, as Hunter S. Thompson put it, there's just a wave rolling over everything and everyone.

Stuart Murdoch talking with Terry Gross on NPR (mp3)

"It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career" - Belle and Sebastian (mp3)

Eleanor Morrow is the senior contributor to This Recording. She lives in New York City, and she tumbls here for your pleasure.

"A Space Boy Dream" - Belle and Sebastian (mp3)

"A Summer Wasting" - Belle and Sebastian (mp3)

"Chickfactor" - Belle and Sebastian (mp3)

Stuart Murdoch's Ten Favorite Albums

These are from a 2004 issue of The Observer.

1. FELT: Poem Of The River

Perhaps my favourite LP. It's short, six tracks. The two standout songs are seven and eight minutes long respectively. I don't even particularly love the short tracks. It feels like they're just little tugboats for the long songs. But then the two long songs are perhaps the most seductive and satisfying music I've ever heard.

2. COCTEAU TWINS: Victorialand

More seduction, the Cocteaus have gone up and up in my estimation since the time I actually listened to music. So much else has fallen behind. I like this LP so much that Victorialand has become one of my favourite words. Listening to this LP I waved goodbye to school, to work, to every day ambitions.

"The Thinner The Air" - Cocteau Twins (mp3)

"How To Bring a Blush To The Snow" - Cocteau Twins (mp3)

"Feet Like Fins" - Cocteau Twins (mp3)

3. FELT: Forever Breathes The Lonely Word

Poetic, ambitious, amazing. Lawrence rightly points out that the production on this LP is terrific. I think it was Mayo Thomson. It's hard to imagine this record ever having been released. Hard to imagine it was ever new. I'd like to propose that it was an indie fossil, and that some Bowlie kid just dug it up. Hence it became an instant and unquenchable classic.

4. ORANGE JUICE: You Can't Hide Your Love Forever

Still the only fun in town. In my time they were the four young lads you wanted to be. Floppy, spoilt babies with all the best looking girls around. They posed like aristocracy. They were aristocracy! They had the records to back it up; this spectacular first LP for instance. I wasn't around to see it come out. I pulled my copy out of a bargain bin for a quid. It was signed by Edwyn! In my mind their myth grew and grew!

"Upwards and Onwards" - Orange Juice (mp3)

"Dying Day" - Orange Juice (mp3)

"L.O.V.E. Love" - Orange Juice (mp3)

5. THE CLASH: London Calling

A friend of mine gave me London Calling for Christmas this year. He gave it to everyone! He was standing on Byres Road handing out copies like religious pamphlets! My old copy was at my mum's, so I was glad to stick it on again. It's more Springsteen than punk, and that's what gets me. The flashing pianos, the barrage of words. A terrific band performance.

6. THE SMITHS: The Smiths

Aah, their best record. Consistent, a completely original and magical style arising from the longed-for meeting of Morrissey and Marr.

"Shoplifters of the World Unite (last ever live performance)" - The Smiths (mp3)

"Sheila Take A Bow (last ever live performance)" - The Smiths (mp3)

"Sweet and Tender Hooligan (John Peel session)" - The Smiths (mp3)

7. THE SPECIALS: The Specials

It's funny, I remember the aforementioned Orange Juice slagging off The Specials and the whole mod revival. "It's like a cross between King Tubby and Dick Emery! Why not get a King Tubby record and a Dick Emery record and play it at the same time!" they said. They were wrong.

8. THE POP GROUP: Y

9. THE RAINCOATS: The Raincoats

"You're A Million" - The Raincoats (mp3)

"Life on the Line" - The Raincoats (mp3)

"Black and White" - The Raincoats (mp3)

10. YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS: Colossal Youth

After Victorialand made me drop out, I drifted into second hand record storedom. When people brought their old records in to sell, I used to stick the ones I liked the look of behind the cistern in the toilet. These were three I liked the look of, and I wasn't wrong. All on Rough Trade. I don't mean to be a sook, but you've got to hand it to my boss, Geoff Travis!

Download it here.

"Song for Sunshine" - Belle & Sebastian (mp3)

"Seeing Other People" - Belle & Sebastian (mp3)

"We Are The Sleepyheads" - Belle & Sebastian (mp3)