Belle and Sebastian

Belle and Sebastian (read more)

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Belle and Sebastian is a band from Glasgow — Led by guitarist/vocalist Stuart Murdoch, the seven-piece band has an , sound that is equal parts and ‘. Murdoch has a gift for not only whimsy and surrealism, but also for odd, unsettling lyrical detail which keeps the songs grounded in a tangible reality.

Based in Glasgow, Scotland, Belle and Sebastian released their first two albums in 1996 at the peak of the movement. At first, some critics in Britain’s music weeklies tied the band into the subgenre, yet the group was too pretty, too delicate, to bear that label. Through their first two years of public existence, the band shielded their personalities, submitting publicity photos featuring a girl that wasn’t in the band and reluctantly posing for photo shoots. Furthermore, they performed in odd venues, playing not only the standard coffeehouses and cafes, but also homes, church halls, and libraries.

The idiosyncratic approach to building their career isn’t surprising given Murdoch’s approach toward beginning a band. A longtime fan of Felt, Murdoch left Glasgow for London in the early ’90s in hopes of finding the group’s leader, Lawrence Hayward, but he never found his idol. Upon his return to Glasgow he enrolled in university and he began writing songs and short stories. While at school, he took a music business course at James Watt College, where he decided to form a band and release a record for his final project (he had tried to form a band before to no success). For the project, he assembled the seven-piece Belle and Sebastian, featuring himself on guitar and vocals, choosing and recruiting members by instinct in a local all-night cafe in late 1995.
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