Belle & Sebastian may have started their career as an alternative band, but now they're really big and popular. They're one of the first bands people think of when you start talking about Scottish bands. I think it's absolutely fantastic that a band like this has become so popular. Some people might call the style wuss-pop, which is appropriate, but as the band got famous at the same time when being slightly nerdy became cool, I think it's only a compliment.
The name of the band is a reference to the children's film and TV-series which I watched as a kid. I mainly remember the film or the TV-series (I can't remember exactly which one) from one song that was in it and that song kind of directed my expectations for the band when I heard a band with this name exists. The song wasn't really that similar to the music, but I think it still raised some warm childhood memories that made my feelings towards the band very positive right from the start.
The album starts with a nice drum beat and showtune pianos in the song Step Into My Office, Baby. There are cool orchestral elements in the song and the vocal harmonies especially sound really good. The title-track Dear Catastrophe Waitress has a surprisingly fast tempo for a Belle & Sebastian song, but the expression is much closer to earlier albums. The heavier bass line and trumpets set it apart from the old albums though. If She Wants Me is the clearest breakthrough from the old albums in my opinion. There's almost a groovy beat in this song which sets it apart from quiet and minimalistic wuss-pop. Piazza, New York Catcher is a good storytelling song that carries the story through without any choruses. I've been playing the song on my guitar for quite a while, but it took me ages to learn all the lyrics by heart. Asleep On a Sunbeam for some reason reminds me of the animation series Peanuts. In the series, the music was actually proper jazz, but something in the pianos and rolling of the drums reminds me of that music. It's also the first song on the album to feature mainly female vocals. I'm a Cuckoo is another upbeat and happy melody song that seems perkier than the band's earlier albums. The melody is fantastic. You Don't Send Me uses xylophones and other similar instruments and gets quite groovy. Wrapped Up In Books has a strong and stable bass line that seems to be very typical for early 00's indie bands. The song grows beautifully with addition of new instruments throughout. Lord Anthony is one of the most ballad-like songs on this album. It's much closer in some ways of the old albums where Stuart Murdoch's vocals were so trembling and delicate that they almost broke mid-song. If You Find Yourself Caught In Love is one of my favourite songs on the album. It takes a while to start, but when it does, it has this great energy. It's also a good example of the humour of Belle & Sebastian lyrics. Roy Walker moves things towards almost blues rock with sharp electric guitars and swingy beats. The album ends with Stay Loose, which has the sound that became even more popular in the later albums.
Belle & Sebastian has some excellent music videos as you might expect from a band that's very cool and has lots of humour in their lyrics. The video for Step Into My Office, Baby is like a compilation of sequences from a 70's sex comedy full of funny innuendos.
In many ways, Dear Catastrophe Waitress is a bridge between the 90's Belle & Sebastian and the 00's Belle & Sebastian. The sounds are already more modern, but the songwriting is still fairly similar to the 90's albums. I like both eras almost equally and that's why this album is actually one of the best ones.
Listen to the album on Spotify.
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