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The Life Pursuits of Belle & Sebastian

Chris Geddes of Belle & Sebastian, also
known as BeansChris Geddes may be difficult to understand over a cross-Atlantic cell phone call, but the conversational snippets that do make it across the great divide from the keyboardist for Belle and Sebastian are intelligent, poignantly political, and engaging. It makes me wish I could make out the other half of what he was saying.

It's the day before the band embarks on a 22-date tour of North America with Vancouver's The New Pornographers, and they have just released The Life Pursuit on Matador. Geddes describes the work as a "conscientious stand to make a record that's more about playing together as a band, and not as heavily orchestrated," an album with "maybe a few tunes that get people moving about." Avoiding sounding orchestrated seems next to impossible for the group. Let's hope Geddes doesn't see this, but I think they failed on that one. In their defense, they did, as always, score quiet high on the body moving, bopping, and subdued foot-tapping test.

Geddes has years of experience getting folks to move their tushies. He often works as a DJ, and has a regular gig at Glasgow's Brel Bar spinning soul, rock, and disco. I ask him what tunes I should play at my birthday party and he aptly recommends "anything by the Jackson 5." It's a good call, and I can see the connections between the sugar disco-pop of the Jacksons and Belle and Sebastian's latest effort. The Life Pursuit is by no means a disco epic, but it definitely stocks up on vocal harmonies and adorable melodies: the number that Geddes wrote, "Song for Sunshine," is dripping in Bee Gees' Clavinet magic.

Some pet peeves of mine include the phrase "twee-pop," any form of incessant and uncritical fandom, and when critics constantly hark back to the glory days of a band's early releases. This list of annoyances might make you think I hate Belle and Sebastian because they carry these burdens about like good Danaids. But, I forgive them because it's not their fault, they make good pop music, and a few of them are communists.

Belle and Sebastian like to get together to watch
TV now and againI asked Geddes if he is a communist. I'm not McCarthy Jr., it's just that he said so on the band's website and I was curious. He is. His answer was peppered with remarks about the working class and the faults of our current system. I imagine that it was eloquent and well thought-out. I could barely hear it.

So, the group is political, but also entrepreneurial and hard-working. There are the seven albums, the incessant touring, and then the maintenance of a rabid fan base. The band sells Frisbees, ring tones, playing cards, key chains, notebooks, flight bags, totes, mugs, raincoats, and mouse pads on their website. On a more endearing level, they'll answer any question a fan posts to their web page. The popular section has already attracted over 2000 questions which have all been lovingly and diligently answered by members of the band. The questions cover a range of topics such as the Israel-Palestine conflict, whether or not The Music Show is a good television program, or if "36 is too late?" I don't know what it's late for, but the answer is "Never."

Belle and Sebastian on the Web:
http://www.belleandsebastian.com/
http://www.jeepster.co.uk/belleandsebastian/