Belle & Sebastian

"I don't know what they're thinking. They're really talented, and they've done amazing things, and I don't like to jump too quickly to damning things like this when they've made stuff I've really believed in. Because sometimes people are doing something that you don't realize."

Producer James Murphy wasn't talking about Belle & Sebastian (he was referring to the French band Daft Punk), but his words are a proper qualifier for their latest release, The Life Pursuit. The entire charm of B&S was their ability to skirt the pitfalls of soft rock and first-love twee pop via coy self-consciousness and disillusionment, but this time the ruse is too seamless. Previous work Dear Catastrophe Waitress was such a brilliant departure for B&S that maybe it was asking too much for its follow-up to serve as the culmination of its promise.

Like DCW, The Life Pursuit runs the gamut of styles, from power to psych to folk-pop and even the hurdy-gurdy blues. This time, however, the attempts just sound borrowed and stale-honestly, who wouldn't mistake "Sukie in the Graveyard" for Of Montreal's "Chrissie Kiss the Corpse"? Yes, traditional bubblegum songs like "Another Sunny Day" and "Funny Little Frog" might tickle the senses, but on an album like If You're Feeling Sinister they'd be mere afterthoughts. If B&S is content with putting out let-downs like this and The Boy with the Arab Strap to spell their masterpieces, that's just gravy. Rimbaud sold guns, too.