Album Review: What to Look for in Summer [Live] by Belle and Sebastian

It's been 24 years since Belle and Sebastian emerged from the Glasgow underground, clutching a surfeit of near-perfect songs. Their classic first and second LPs, Tigermilk and If You're Feeling Sinister, established frontman and principal songwriter Stuart Murdoch as a generational talent, a writer who intuitively wedded the forensic character studies of Joni Mitchell to the chamber music of early John Cale, lending a Dylan-esque sophistication to the Sarah Records bands that were his sonic progenitors. Ever since then, they've endured personnel changes, sonic reinventions and on occasion, hurt feelings beyond repair.

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Scottish indie-pop band Belle and Sebastian have finally acquiesced to long-standing fan requests and have released an album of their live recordings. 'What To Look For In Summer' takes multiple tracks from their acclaimed 2019 tour as well as including all three sets from the Boaty Weekender festival which took place on a cruise ship. With the distinct lack of live music on offer in 2020, 'What To Look For In Summer' is a lovely, joyful record that takes us back to those heady days of festivals, travel and a more carefree existence.

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Few indie pop bands have inspired the lasting excitement and committed fandom as Belle and Sebastian. Music defined in part by its shy, retiring character and willful obscurity doesn't usually lend itself to legions of screaming fans at sold-out theater shows, with many indie legends never moving much further than tiny club shows if they made it to the stage at all. Belle and Sebastian somehow simultaneously achieve both the insular fragility of twee indie pop and the star power required to sustain a ravenous fan base for multiple decades, presenting both in double live album What to Look for in Summer.

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"Color my life with the chaos of trouble/ 'Cause anything's better than posh isolation." After nine months without live gigs and a summer of cancelled festivals and tours it seems like a lifetime since we were bruising in a mosh pit, waving IPhones at stages or worshipping DJs in or outdoors. Belle and Sebastian have spent the imposed hiatus preparing this gift of a live album culled from recordings made during their Summer 2019 tour. What To Look For In Summer is a terrific career spanning selection of some of their most loved songs the performances of which give lie to the common wisdom about a bunch of fey, romantically challenged, wallflowers.

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