TO celebrate their 30th anniversary, Scottish band Arab Strap will mark the occasion with their ninth album, Half-Told Tales.
Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton – born and raised in Falkirk – rose to fame in the 90s with their breakout single The First Big Weekend and continued to grow a cult following with their 1998 album Philophobia.
From the very start, a trademark of Arab Strap’s music has been their confessional lyricism. It can be often humorous yet dark and introspective, as Aidan Moffat invites listeners inside his mind as he muses on subjects ranging from the personal to the political.
Following their reunion in 2016, Arab Strap released the 2021 album As Days Get Dark – their first in 16 years – which Moffat described as “dark” as he explored themes of regret, mortality and desire.
After the melancholy of As Days Get Dark, Moffat wanted to continue grappling with heavy subjects, but this time infuse them with optimism and “genuine joy”.
“When I start writing lyrics, it’s never a conscious choice. I just write what comes and then I realise what’s happening and this has an influence on the rest of the album,” said Moffat.
“I let it happen naturally, but subconsciously I knew we should do something chirpier. Some of it is dark in content, but musically it’s more uplifting and immediate than the last record, and it felt like a reaction to those records.”
Half-Told Tales also features commentary on the state of the music industry, as Moffat sings: “We’re over a barrel, but we don’t have to cheer it.”
The group split in 2006 after asserting they had “run their course”, before reuniting in 2016 for live concerts. In that time, the music industry had become almost unrecognisable – it still continues to change and evolve.
“One of the main challenges for us as a band is the dreaded C word – not that one – content. Our label wants us to generate more content. There’s a fine line; we don’t want to do it in a curmudgeonly way or [overly enthusiastic either]. But we haven’t quite found a sweet spot that we’re comfortable with yet where it feels natural.
“That’s one of the sticking points; it’s finding the line between tastefulness and being in direct communication with people who want to listen to your music.”
Moffat also believes the purpose of making records has changed and has been turned on its head. When they started, they used gigs as a way to promote records, but now it is the other way around, with touring providing the main body of their income.
“That has affected the way that people make music. Not to a great degree, but it’s maybe one of the reasons why we’ve focused more on how our music will sound live. In the 1990s, I don’t think we ever recorded a song imagining how we were going to play it live but we’re now aware of presenting a song in ways we didn’t have to care about,” said Moffat.
Originally, Arab Strap planned to release Half-Told Tales as a 10-track album. However, with their 30th anniversary, they decided to show the full breadth of music they had been working on with 14 tracks.
“We had been working on this album for a couple of years, and as we were finishing the songs, it was becoming harder to make it a shorter album. Instead of trying to decide with difficulty which songs to leave off, we left them all on and have a broader palate that the fans of our music can enjoy in its entirety,” said Middleton.
Moffat added: “It was impossible to choose what those 10 songs were. The modern attitude is that people don’t like long albums, but I don’t think that’s true. Your fans will listen to your record. There’s a lot more music out there, and people have shorter attention spans but people who listen to your music will always listen to your music. It doesn’t matter if there’s an extra two songs.”
In support of their latest album, Arab Strap will embark on a European tour, which includes a date at Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom on October 17.
During previous live performances, the band had a “No-one goes home smiling” guarantee, as they would typically end the show on a sombre note.
However, they have promised a complete 180-degree turn as the “genuine joy” which they wanted to capture with Half-Told Tales creeps into their upcoming live performances.
“We always ended the show with a quiet, sad song. We’ll have to address that and end with a big banger instead. We’ll have to make sure people leave with a smile on their face,” said Moffat.
