By Joe Johnson (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: February 25, 2015
Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance is Belle and Sebastian’s ninth studio album, and it’s a marvellous piece of work. Nineteen years since their first release, they’ve rarely, if ever, had a misstep in producing some of the greatest indie music to date. Belle and Sebastian are unbelievably consistent and Girls in Peacetime is no different. Across the 12 tracks, which expands to over an hour in listening length, there’s a tremendous body of music here, and any song could easily be found in movies like 500 Days of Summer — although I should mention that each track does have its own groove and flair.
Girls in Peacetime is engrossing right from the mellow hooks of the first song, “Nobody’s Empire,” where the lyrics then fall to read as a story: “Lying on my bed, I was reading French / With the light too bright for my senses / From this hiding place life was way too much / It was loud and rough ‘round the edges.” Because of the way Belle and Sebastian write their music, they fully flesh out each song, never getting tedious or boring despite the album’s over an hour of listening time.
While Belle and Sebastian retain their quintessential sound for this album, each track is varied. There are still the solid singles such as “Ever Had a Little Faith” that are amazing and rightly suited for the radio. But then there are tracks — such as “The Everlasting Muse” — which I am personally absolutely enamoured with. It begins with a sultry tease of lyrics, leading to a high-energy mixing of the band’s sound with Romani music and steel guitar.
It would be a matter for debate where the album falls within their discography, but there can be no denying that it is extremely well crafted.
