Mar 27 2006
Malcolm Middleton
Arab Strap is a band that I’ve always had an irrational hatred for. This is nothing to do with their music, which if I’m perfectly honest about, I don’t think I’ve ever heard. Much like Belle & Sebastian though, something made me decide that I didn’t like them and that feeling has lingered. I’m trying to rectify this now though, and will be listening to some Arab Strap as soon as one of their albums arrives. The reason for this change of heart is the guy pictured above, Malcolm Middleton.
Malcolm Middleton is one half of Arab Strap. From what I can tell, he’s the one who doesn’t sing, but obviously this doesn’t mean a great deal to me. I downloaded his single, ‘A Happy Medium’, without actually knowing of his connection of Arab Strap, which is a good thing as that would have probably put me off. Thankfully though, I got to hear it in all of it’s shambolic glory. Music that’s all over the place, back and forth male-female vocals, and such cheerful lyrics (”woke up again today / realised I hate myself / my face is a disease”).
This encouraged me to seek out the rest of the album it came from, last year’s ‘Into The Woods’, which has quickly become a favourite. The depressing tone remains throughout, and even the happy songs have Middleton worrying that if he isn’t depressed, he won’t be able to write songs and that his career will be over. I’m sure this is all slightly tongue in cheek, but he sings with enough conviction that it doesn’t really matter.
MP3 Malcolm Middleton - Break My Heart (expired)
MP3 Malcolm Middleton - Loneliness Shines (expired)
MP3 Malcolm Middleton - Monday Night Nothing (expired)
These three songs are my favourites from ‘Into The Woods’, with ‘Break My Heart’ capturing the tone of the album perfectly. Middleton likes to write depressing songs, but seeing as he doesn’t have a great deal to be miserable about, he’s left with quite a dilemma. “You’re gonna break my heart I know it / but if you don’t / you’re going to ruin my run of unhappiness and destroy my career” he sings in a way that should come across half mockingly, but instead makes you feel quite sorry for the guy. ‘Loneliness Shines’ finds him singing about how he feels that even though he’s ‘got it all’ he ‘appreciates nothing’. I spoke about ‘Monday Night Nothing’ in my last entry, so I’ll spare you it again here. Suffice to say, it’s all cheerful stuff.
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