Belle and Sebastian hit the ground running in 2023 with new album Late Developers. First single ‘I Don’t Know What You See In Me’ stands as one of the band’s most unabashedly infectious pop offerings to date, it is also their first co-write, featuring young pop composer Pete Ferguson. Arriving almost back-to-back to 2022’s Top Ten album ‘A Bit of Previous’, ‘Late Developers’ comes on like its predecessor’s sun-kissed cousin. It is a full-hearted embrace of the band's brightest tendencies that is not only fresh and immediate but possessing of that Belle and Sebastian je ne sais quoi of a group that will always be there for you with the perfect word or melody for the moment, while admitting tunefully that “Every girl and boy / each one is a misery” (“When The Cynics Stare Back From The Wall”). “Juliet Naked” channels frantic Billy Bragg-energy with rugged electric guitar and a football stadium worthy chant from Stuart Murdoch. The aforementioned “When The Cynics Stare Back From The Wall” is an unearthed 1994-era pre-Belle and Sebastian gem, with help from Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell. "So In The Moment” is breathless psychedelic pop that is arguably one of Stevie Jackson’s best ever songs. “When We Were Very Young” is Smiths-esque jangle rock that is bittersweet, devotional and yearning: “I wish I could be content / With the football scores / I wish I could be content with my daily chores / With my daily worship of the sublime”. It's best said by Jeff Rosenstock: If you love Belle and Sebastian, 2022’s A Bit of Previous was a surprise gift that felt earned in the midst of some tough-ass times. Belle and Sebastian have already given us a bounty of classic records, so with the previous half-decade’s output – scattered EPs, soundtracks, and a live record that doubles as a greatest hits collection – you would be forgiven for assuming there was nothing left in the tank and it was time to fire up the tour bus for some album anniversary shows. But you’d be wrong. Turns out the band spent the bleakest parts of peak pandemic times with each other, harnessing the magnitude of an unthinkable situation and the solitude of rides on an empty train car to distant areas of a beautiful snow-covered city. They transmogrified that energy into beams of joy, heartbreak, truth, hope, spirituality, loss and love shining through every moment. It was as if we had been wandering through a cold, dark, seemingly infinite forest until out of nowhere Belle and Sebastian appeared, waiting in the doorway of a warm and familiar space. A space that was previously designated for rehearsal and mail-order, but is currently wallpapered with A4 paper bearing potential song titles. As bass and kick drum patterns pump through the wall, the band invites you in from the cold – not to lie and tell you everything is going to be okay, but to let you know that you are not alone. SO HOW LUCKY ARE WE THAT THEY WERE MAKING TWO RECORDS ALL ALONG?! Recorded in the same sessions as A Bit of Previous, Late Developers doesn’t feel like a collection of lesser-than songs that weren’t good enough to go on the “real” record (I’m looking at you, System of a Down’s Hypnotize!). Rather, it’s an embrace of the freedom that comes with a jumbo-sized canvas, skilled students left unsupervised to paint whatever picture they feel like. The album’s sunny musical disposition is regularly confronted by the reality that sometimes life and love do not feel good. Major chords on a harpsichord and plucked guitar breeze by as Stuart Murdoch and Sarah Martin lament in harmony, “the world is killing me / I’m out to sea” (“Will I Tell You a Secret”). Belle and Sebastian have always had a knack for juxtaposing the music and lyrics to express the chaotic washing machine of emotion that accompanies being alive. And there’s an effortlessness to Late Developers that reminds you that you are listening to the experts on this. Shit, on “Evening Star” Stuart casually shows off his two-plus-octave vocal range within the first stanza as if it’s nothing. Keep in mind though, no one is flexing and there’s no pretentiousness here. It always feels like friends in a room together communicating through music and enthusiastically encouraging each other to explore every possible path with fervor and love. It is beyond remarkable and inspiring that a band 600 years or so into their career can make music that not only feels immediate and effective, but two back-to-back albums that feel like Belle and Sebastian are at the top of their game and will always be there for you, while admitting tunefully that yes, “Every girl and boy, each one is a misery.” But it’s not like their goal is to drag you down into the doldrums of despair. They schemed away in the darkness to create something to be brought into the light.
