Bill Wells (Scottish self-taugh multi-instrumentalist jazz-person) and Aidan Moffat (equally Scottish ex-Arab Strap front-man) have spent the past 8 years on and off creating this album, and it was well worth the effort. The music is exquisite, beautifully played and produced, with hints of jazz and rhythmic stabs. The vocals range from softly sung words to spoken diatribes, while the subject matter goes from the beautiful (The Greatest Story Ever Told) through the ridiculous (mentions of CBeebies) to potty-mouthed tales of prostitutes fucking squaddies for free in car parks.
Never less than honest, at times brutally so, and liberally sprinkled with swear words, Moffat's lyrics wear their heart on their tattered sleeve for all to see. One of the most moving tracks on the album (musically & lyrically) is 'The Copper Top', the tale of a man alone in a pub after a funeral and pondering on the uses of his suit -"birth, love and death, the only reasons to get dressed up" - and how everything is getting older and decaying.
Possibly the best album about birth, life, love and death that you'll ever hear, and undoubtedly the best work of Moffat's career.
Tracks:
- Tasogare
- Let's Stop Here
- Cages
- A Short Song To The Moon
- Ballad of the Bastard
- The Copper Top
- Glasgow Jubilee
- (If You) Keep Me In Your Heart
- Dinner Time
- The Sadness In Your Life Will Slowly Fade
- The Greatest Story Ever Told
- And So We Must Rest
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