The problem with being Isobel Campbell is that everything you do will forever be compared to Belle & Sebastian, that being your old band and all. However, on Swansong for You, her second album as The Gentle Waves (which is just Isobel, band-type-name not withstanding), she doesn’t back away from the comparison at all; indeed, she seems to deliberately invite it. The sound of the album is precisely the sort of dreamy faux-’60s pop that she was known for in B&S, and no fewer than five members of B&S wander through the record at various points.
So, using the obvious point of comparison, Swansong for You is quite a bit better and more consistent than B&S’s low points (Tigermilk, Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant), but it’s nowhere near as transcendent as If You’re Feeling Sinister, or Dear Catastrophe Waitress, or the one it desperately wants to be, The Boy With The Arab Strap. Indeed, the best moments on Swansong could easily have been swapped with her contributions to Arab Strap without damaging the latter record. The difference is that, on Arab Strap, Stuart Murdoch was doing the heavy lifting with the songwriting, and so Isobel’s songs weren’t asked to be the centerpiece of the CD. Here, with all of the attention on her songs, the album seems strangely centerless, ten appetizers looking for a main course.
The simple fact is, at least based on the evidence here, Isobel doesn’t have much range as a songwriter — she likes mid-tempo things with cute chamber-pop arrangements, which describes a good three quarters of the album. Part of the issue is that her whisper-thin voice isn’t comfortable outside of that setting. The few occasions she tries to stretch can be generously described as unsuccessful: the rushed spoken-word verses of “Partner in Crime” sound forced, and her attempt at rock on “Sisterwoman” is remarkably unconvincing (though it’s actually quite a good song, except for the vocal). The other part is that her lyrics range from the blandly pretty to the frighteningly banal. “For I was young too / with trouble like you / it hurts when you throw love away,” she intones on “Loretta Young,” and it’s enough to make you want to beg Murdoch, who’s playing bass on the cut, to push her away from the microphone and sing something that might have some actual meaning.
All this might perhaps give the impression that Swansong is a bad album. It isn’t — aside from maybe “Partner in Crime,” it doesn’t have any bad tracks, it’s well-played and produced, and it does what it sets out to do fairly well. And at the heart of the matter, I think that might be the issue — it’s a perfectly pleasant record, but it doesn’t have much ambition. Sure, B&S came up with some truly awful moments, plenty of them much worse than anything on Swansong, but you usually got the impression that they were trying to do something interesting, to move forward, to stretch and grow and say something, even if only to themselves. Swansong, on the other hand, is a complacent album: it does what Isobel has long since proven that she knows how to do, and it does it well, but that’s all it does.
Release date: Nov. 7, 2000
Label: Jeepster
Rating: 6/10
11 Comments »
I’d heard that, but I didn’t know if it was true or not.
I wish she hadn’t quit the band. I liked her contributions to their sound a lot, though I also like what they’ve done without her.
he said it at a live show i saw right after she left the band. i personally think “arab strap” and “tigermilk” are their best albums to date, although i love them all, and that’s mainly because of isobel’s contributions. the gentle waves kind of annoys me though…isn’t that odd?
have you heard the scotland yard gospel choir yet? i would reccomend them to any fan of b&s.
I agree that If You’re Feeling Sinister and The Boy with the Arab Strap are awesome.
Just curious–what do you dislike about Tigermilk? I enjoyed it a LOT better than Dear Catastrophe, which I think takes the dorky flute on “Mary Jo” to new, unpleasant heights.
Part of my love for Dear Catastrophe is rooted in my undying love for Trevor Horn as a producer. He’s sort of a divisive figure, but I just can’t help but love him. It’s in my blood. Or something.
Tigermilk sounds uncertain to me, like they’ve got an idea of what they want to do, but aren’t quite sure how to go about doing it. Murdoch’s songwriting sounds scattershot to me, and the band sound like they can just barely play their instruments together, which was apparently true. I dunno…it’s got moments that are way better than your average debut, but it doesn’t hold my interest the way some of the others do. It’s the only one of their proper albums I’ve never bothered to buy.
for some reason, i think all b&s albums after isobel left the band are crap. i dunno, i liked their chemistry together, and stuart started inviting WAY too many people to be in his band. there are like 47 members now. the last two albums outright sucked. they made me sad.
stuart and isobel were dating - everyone knows that, right? after they broke up, things became really strained and she left the band. supposedly stuart is really bitter about it, and isobel will hardly acknowledge it. i read him bad mouth her in a magazine a few years back….DRAMA
see, part of what hooked me on “tigermilk” when it first came out was how gentle and unaffected and almost trepidatious it sounded. it has the natural sound of honest-to-god loneliness. or something.
don’t get me wrong - i love all of the incarnations of b&s. i do tend to think, however, that most folks tend to hold a special spot in their hearts for the album that first introduced them to a band, regardless of what came out before or after it. and by that reasoning, i love me some “tigermilk.”
also, SCOTLAND YARD GOSPEL CHOIR?
“i do tend to think, however, that most folks tend to hold a special spot in their hearts for the album that first introduced them to a band…” I think you are spot-on, Joie… especially about B&S. Because almost everyone I know who likes B&S likes the first B&S album they bought best.
I actually didn’t know Stuart and Isobel were dating (I, you know, BELIEVED the liner notes that said that they “are not snogging”… oh, how gullible). I also thought Stuart was gay. Or was that Stevie? I can’t keep track of all of ‘em.
Keep observation, Christine. That would explain my dedication to ‘Licensed to Ill’, but if it were true for all bands, including B&S, then I would be mixing my champagne w/ sleeping pills now (thank you very much, ‘Fold Your Hands Girl…’) instead of struggling to quit humming the chorus of ‘…Arab Strap’ all day.
borch - that, my friend, is because you were introduced to b&s with their worst album ever. \”arab strap\” blows \”fold you hands, girl\” out of the proverbial water and you are a good kid to recognize the fact. especially since they slammed seymour stein, who was personally responsible for screwing over one of my very favourite bands (manchester\’s james) when he signed them but refused to allow them to release any material.  also, \”paul\’s boutique\” kicks \”licensed to ill\’s\” ass.
christine - stuart murdoch is not gay. stuart david, who used to be the bassist but left to form looper, is reported to be.
everyone - why are you ignoring me? does anyone here like the scotland yard gospel choir? i am currently kind of obsessed with them and you should be too.
For the record, my first B&S album was Arab Strap, and to prove you right, Christine, it’s probably still my favorite.
I’ve listened to a bit of the SYGC now, Joie. It’s pretty good. I need to listen to it more to have anything more detailed than that, but I can already say that I appreciate you for pointing me in their direction.
And I think that it’s hysterical that this post has ten comments on it now, and only one of them mentions The Gentle Waves — and even then, only in passing. Poor Isobel. Overshadowed by her old band even in a review of her new one.
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Comment by joiezabel — November 27, 2006 @ 9:04 am
she’s the one that stuart from b&s wrote “i’m waking up to us” about, did you know that?