Belle and Sebastian are a Scottish indie pop band formed in Glasgow in 1996. Led by Stuart Murdoch, the band has released twelve studio albums. They are often compared with acts such as the Smiths and Nick Drake. The name “Belle and Sebastian” comes from Belle et Sebastien, a 1966 children’s book by French writer Cecile Aubry adapted from a television series of the same name. In 1994 they recorded some demos, which in 1996 were picked up by the college’s Music Business course that produces and releases one single each year on the college’s label, El;ectric Honey. As Murdoch had a number of songs already and the label was extremely impressed with the demos, he was granted permission to record a full-length album, which was recorded mostly live over three days, entitled Tigermilk.
The warm response Tigermilk received led to the band being signed to Jeepster Records in August 1996, who released their second album If You’re Feeling Sinister in November. The album was named by Spin as one of the 100 greatest albums between 1985 and 2005, and it is widely considered the band’s masterpiece. Just before the recording of Sinister, Sarah Martin (violin/vocals) joined the band. The band released their third LP, The Boy with the Arab Strap in 1998, and it reached No. 12 in the UK charts. Arab Strap garnered an NPR interview and positive reviews from Rolling Stone and The Village Voice.
In 1999, the band was awarded with Best Newcomer (for their third album) at the BRIT Awards. That same year, the band hosted their own festival, the Bowlie Weekender. Tigermilk was also given a full release by Jeepster before the band started work on their next LP. The result was Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant, which became the band’s first top 10 album in the UK, though critics felt that the band were starting to stagnate. A stand-alone single, “Legal Man”, reached No. 15 and gave them their first appearance on Top of the Pops.
The band left Jeepster in 2002, signing a four-album deal with Rough Trade Records. Their first album for Rough Trade, Dear Catastrophe Waitress, was released in 2003 and was produced by Trevor Horn. The album showed a markedly more “produced” sound compared to their first four LPs, as the band was making a concerted effort to produce more “radio-friendly” music. At this point, the band began to engage more with the press and started appearing in publicity shots. The album was warmly received and is credited with restoring the band’s “indie cred”.
Their eighth studio album, released in the UK and internationally in September 2010, was titled Write About Love. The first single from the album, as well as the record’s title track “Write About Love”, was released in the US in September 2010. Write about Love entered the UK albums chart in its first week of release, peaking at No. 8 as of 19 October 2010. Norah Jones is featured on the track “Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John”, and Carey Mulligan sings on the title track. In mid-2017, the band put out a new single, “We Were Beautiful”. In December 2017 and January and February 2018, the band released a trio of EPs under the name How to Solve Our Human Problems.
