Arab Strap

You can hear all three masters of dark songwriting in the Scottish slowcore band Arab Strap: Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, and Tom Waits. Arab Strap’s songs are often built on recurring loops, with production elements being added and removed to keep the whole thing alive. A perfect example of their sound is one of their greatest songs, »The First Big Weekend«: an acoustic guitar plinks along as if a folk song is about to begin, while a harsh Scottish accent is sung and spoken over the top. As a non-native speaker, this is sometimes difficult to understand – but it is unmistakable that these words are clever or at least self-reflective. After a few seconds, the drum machine joins in, not even subtly, but with a thumping, four-on-the-floor beat. You can hear that he went to the pub and danced with a blonde woman, but judging by the mood of the song, it didn’t end well. Few men are this likeable when they’re moping. Incidentally, the fact that the new album is called »I’m Totally Fine With It Don’t Give A Fuck Anymore « is not a sign that Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton are getting old but rather that they’ve got a sense of humour – the title is based on a text message their live drummer sent them.