CHANGE of line-up, change of record label and, what's this, Trevor Horn is the new producer?
Yes, the bespectacled Buggles boffin behind 'gay' acts Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Russian nymphs Tatu is now controller of fey Scots Belle & Sebastian.
Strictly, that is not true: this latterday Phil Spector usually sculpts mountains from musical molehills while bands twiddle their thumbs in the corner, but this time his role is cohesive not coercive as he ensures the previously self-indulgent, insular Glaswegians are back in control of their idiosyncratic gifts on their fifth album.
"I liked their albums but they made me laugh because they weren't always well recorded," Horn told Uncut magazine. Dear Catastrophe Waitress is polished and opulent and orchestral but more importantly the playfully expansive arrangements - from West Coast harmonies to Thin Lizzy pastiche, from Merseybeat to Mariachi - are as witty and spry as Stuart Murdoch's waspish yet tender lyrics. A Horn of plenty.
Updated: 09:06 Thursday, October 09, 2003
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