Belle And Sebastian / If You're Feeling Sinister

Detached, emotive, quiet, energetic, wistful, playful, folksy, and spiked with punkish enthusiasm, If You're Feeling Sinister is a thing of delirious beauty and hypnotic power. Its songs are full of irresistible hooks and languid poetry, with sumptuous, dreamy melodies unfurling beneath smartly delicate (and snidely decadent, although that part isn't as pronounced) vocals. The whole thing sounds like an uncanny cross-pollination of the Smiths and Simon & Garfunkel, shot through with strains of the Beach Boys and the Velvet Underground (think "Pale Blue Eyes"). It's a smokey, gentle record full of nervous majesty and two-faced poetry, a half-awake dream that rings with humor and warmth.

Download