Arab Strap’s new album Half-Told Tales, the group’s ninth, will arrive almost three decades to the day since their first single was released. “We’re thirty years old this year,” says the duo, “So we decided to celebrate by doing what we enjoy most: by making new music.”
New single ‘Fighting For You’ was loosely inspired by the last line of Natasha Brown’s political satire, Universality, and is a fierce and fiery take down of far-right grifters, hollow nationalism and spineless leaders, with Malcolm Middleton’s potent guitar playing mirroring the tone of the subject matter. “It’s about certain political figures and very wealthy demagogues that I don’t trust to look after anyone’s interests but their own,” Aidan Moffat says of the lyrics. “I grew up in the eighties, and sometimes I feel like I’m living my youth again: the same myths of a once glorious nation prevail, and the threat of global war seems constant; economic inequality and class divisions just seem to get worse and worse, and the same old bigotries are being encouraged in very dangerous ways.” But despite tackling such weighty issues, it was important for Moffat to anchor himself to optimism. “I try to keep positive by telling myself I’ve seen this kind of thing before and it will pass,” he says. “And, of course, venting my frustrations in a big, noisy banger.“
The push-pull dynamic that exists in such songs – where grooving, fluid beats nestle up against rip-roaring guitars – is reflective of the back and forth approach the band have during the songwriting process. “The excitement comes because me and Aidan like and hate different things,” says Middleton. “There are things in the record that individually we might not choose but that’s why I like this album so much, because it’s not the one I wanted to make. I don’t think it’s what Aidan wanted to make either, it’s this bit in the middle. It might not be 100% what we want but it’s good for the band, and it works.”
Tracklisting:
1. I Get Noise
2. You You You
3. Be a Man
4. Fighting For You
5. Glamour Magick
6. Gape
7. Under Offer
8. Basic Physics
9. Sunsong
10. Dollar Park
11. Mr. Splitfoot
12. Ampersand
13. Fragments
14. Beats Per Minute