Belle and Sebastian - Storytelling

Jeepster Recordings - 2002 - 35 minutes

This soundtrack for Todd Solondz's follow-up to the criminally over-praised 'Happiness' isn't a great departure for Scottish indie popsters Belle and Sebastian. Having carved their niche with delicate melodies and unsettling lyrical detail, the Glasgow group provides a stopgap for their increasingly possessive fans with an album which is firmly ensconced in familiar terrain.

Juxtaposing dialogue from the film with some pretty, if slight, melodic compositions, 'Storytelling' captures the best and worst of the soundtrack genre. Of the former, the inappropriately-named 'F**k This Sh*t' is the aural equivalent of lazy summer days spent in bucolic bliss; the Stevie Jackson-dominated 'Black And White Unite' is of 'Ease Your Feet In The Sea' vintage, while the tequila tones of 'Wandering Alone' hint at a band having fun.

However, apart from the pointless dialogue inserts, there are some suspect moments here. Stuart Murdoch's vocals are at their most unbearable on 'I Don't Want To Play Football', while 'Scooby Driver' sounds like the title tune of a dodgy 70s sitcom.

Ultimately, the essence of the album is best summed up by band member Mick Cooke when he says "what ended up being right for the movie amounted to about 6 minutes of music. What wasn't right, we developed, and all of it is on this LP". It's difficult to work out which six minutes he's talking about, but fans should still have fun guessing.

Tom Grealis

Tracklisting: Fiction - Freak - Dialogue: Conan, Early Letterman - F**k This Sh*t - Night Walk - Dialogue: Jersey's Where It's At - Black And White Unite - Consuelo - Dialogue: Toby - Storytelling - Dialogue: Class Rank - I Don't Want To Play Football - Consuelo Leaving - Wandering Alone - Dialogue: Mandingo Cliché - Scooby Driver - Fiction Reprise - Big John Shaft