Belle and Sebastian
Belle and Sebastian is a British indie pop band. The band's name refers to the children's book Belle et Sébastien by the French writer Cécile Aubry about the boy Sébastien and his dog Belle.
Band History
The band was founded by Stuart Murdoch as part of a social program for the unemployed in Glasgow in January 1996. Murdoch already written before a lot of the songs of the first publications Tigermilk ( published 1996 in a mini edition, reissued 1999 ), If You're Feeling Sinister (1996 ) and appeared in quick succession in 1997 EPs. The remaining members of the band Murdoch joined over the years. Belle and Sebastian were initially extremely media and press shy, appearances outside the UK were rare. Nevertheless, the band won a worldwide fan base. After her hit Legal Man, who went into the British Top 20 in 2000, finished the band with an appearance on the show Top of the Pops this self-imposed isolation, a first world tour followed. 2003 surprised the band by the productions of the early years with the opulently orchestrated and produced by Trevor Horn album Dear Catastrophe Waitress. Another album, The Life Pursuit followed in February 2006. 2007 their songs Piazza, New York Catcher and Expectations were used for the soundtrack of well arrived at critics film Juno. The soundtrack itself was also a commercial success.
The style
The band's style is described mainly in English-speaking alternately as Twee Pop, Baroque Pop, Jangle Pop, or just indie or folk-pop. Characteristic of the texts of the main songwriter Stuart Murdoch are little stories that tell episodes from the life of outsiders in their teens. Earlier recordings (about 1996-2001) were mostly produced by the band itself and often had more prosaic arrangements that usually went in the direction of folk.
Only with the release of the album Dear Catastrophe Waitress (2003 ) won one with Trevor Horn professional help in the studio. The result was a sound that was clearly polished and more pop than the previous albums. This was not surprising, as Horn previously with bands like Frankie Goes to Hollywood or the Russian pop duo tATu had worked. The band followed this path but consistently and in 2006 published the successor to The Life Pursuit, this time with Tony Hoffer as producers.