Aidan Moffat: One hell of a mime
I haven’t paid much attention to Aidan Moffat since Arab Strap broke up. I kept up with Malcolm Middleton reasonably well, and once you’ve picked one child over the other, it’s hard to go crawling back. In fact, the last I heard about Moffat he was recording under some dodgy name like Psychometric Dildo or something. I might be wrong on that*, but for some reason it feels right.
So I wasn’t exactly excited when an Aidan Moffat & The Best Ofs file dropped into my inbox. Expecting some kind of spoken word dirge, my first thought was something along the lines of “holy shitting hell, this sounds cheerful”. The only problem with that is that Moffat does not have a voice built for cheerful. When your range extends from melancholy to suicidal (not a criticism!), something seems off when you bring the whimsy.
There’s nothing wrong with any of this really. It’s certainly not bad by any stretch of the imagination. It ambles along nicely, barely reaching two minutes, meaning it hardly outstays it’s welcome. But something isn’t quite right. Maybe I’m too nostalgic for the Strap of old, but this doesn’t really do much for me. Which may beg the question of exactly why I’m bothering to post it. Honestly, because the video (found below the jump) is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time.
Aidan Moffat related fun facts!
1. He writes a highly amusing advice column entitled I’m No Expert.
2. I once sold a book to Aidan Moffat. He is unaware of this fact.
How To Get To Heaven From Scotland was released last Saturday via Chemikal Underground Records.
* If I am, that’s one hell of a band name right there.
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