Arab Strap – go under the knife for new single ‘Glamour Magick’

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.”

The idea of aging in a world where we’re always on show is at the heart of their new single, as singer Aidan Moffat reveals: “Glamour Magick is about the pressure to look youthful, and how far we might go to hide our natural selves. It started with a few things I use regularly in middle age – caffeine shampoo, whitening toothpaste, eye cream etc. – and then I wondered how much further I’d be willing to go. New teeth, new hair, liposuction, eye-lifts, facial fat injections … how long until there’s nothing really left of me? It’s nothing new, of course – the end of the song mentions the Fountain of Youth and Greek goddess Hebe – and looking young has always been an inherent human desire. Time is our enemy, and we’re all spending money on trying to fight it – it’s just a question of how much we’re willing to pay.”

In the accompanying, bloody new video – directed by David Arthur, who also made their werewolf-themed Strawberry Moon promo in 2024 –  a forlorn and greying Moffat engages the services of a sinister cosmetic surgeon (and her assistant, guitarist Dr. Malcolm Middleton) after reading negative comments on his beard-stroking YouTube channel. But with surgery completed, the Arab Strap credit card is declined, and alternative payment must be arranged…

Despite the album tackling such weighty issues, from the personal to the political, it was important for Moffat to anchor himself to optimism within those subjects. “I think there’s a hope in there,” he says. “There’s actually some genuine joy in the record. I was quite conscious of that, as the last one was really dark.” 

Perhaps the most prevailing theme across the record is time however. “The album title sounds like a fairy tale book, until you get to the end of the record and you realise that I’m talking about lives that have ended too early,” says Moffat. “That’s something that just seems to be part of your life when you get to your fifties. You become acutely aware that you’re in that final third of your life. I think every single song has some element of time or some discussion of its passing and how to use it as best you can while you have it.”

Arab Strap have also announced a new tour for the Autumn including a visit to Eastern Europe.  Tickets and info at arabstrap.scot

Instore performances:
Fri 4 Sept – Rough Trade Bristol
Sat 5 Sept – Pie & Vinyl Southsea (daytime) 
Sat 5 Sept – Resident Records Brighton (evening)
Sun 6 Sept – Truck Oxford (daytime) 
Sun 6 Sept – Banquet Records Kingston (evening)
Mon 7 Sept  – Reflex Newcastle

Autumn 2026 Tour dates:
Mon 12 Oct – Whelan’s, Dublin IE
Tue 13 Oct – Band on the Wall, Manchester UK
Wed 14 Oct – Heaven, London UK
Thu 15 Oct – Howard Assembly Rooms, Leeds UK
Fri 16 Oct – Georgian Theatre, Stockton UK
Sat 17 Oct – Barrowland, Glasgow UK                
Sun 22 Nov – MeetFactory, Prague CZ
Mon 23 Nov – a83, Budapest HU
Tue 24 Nov – Vintage Industrial Bar, Zagreb HR
Wed 25 Nov – Zappa Bazza, Belgrade RS
Thu 26 Nov – Control Club, Bucharest RO
Fri 27 Nov – Zorlu, Istanbul TR
Sat 28 Nov – Eightball Club, Thessaloniki GR
Sun 29 Nov 2026 – Gazarta Soundstage, Athens GR            
Sun 13 Dec 2026 – Parma Barezzi Festival, Parma IT

Half-Told Tales Tracklisting:
I Get Noise
You You You
Be a Man
Fighting For You
Glamour Magick
Gape
Under Offer
Basic Physics
Sunsong
Dollar Park
Mr. Splitfoot
Ampersand
Fragments
Beats Per Minute

Pre-order the album here