Belle & Sebastian

Dear Catastrophe Waitress, 2003's predecessor to The Life Pursuit, was a polarizing album for Belle & Sebastian fans. On one hand, the band had never sounded more elastic and seldom sounded livelier. On the other, they'd also never sounded so…well, not themselves.

New B&S producer Tony Hoffer is also no stranger to divisiveness, having recently helmed a bloated album by former crit-darlings Idlewild and alienated a few Beck and Supergrass fans along the way, as well. Surprisingly, then, this combination of a band at a crossroads and a producer with a spotty track record has resulted in a perfectly comfortable album. It's a confident step forward for Stuart Murdoch, one that recognizes that to embrace the future you don't have to wholly renounce the past.

Indeed, some of the highlights from The Life Pursuit wouldn't sound out of place on pre-Storytelling albums. "Dress Up In You" is a pretty piano vignette that comes closest to what would be considered the band's signature sound, especially as it builds to a stately horn section and a final verse featuring high female harmonies over Murdoch's expressive lead vocal. "Another Sunny Day" is a relentlessly peppy pop tune with a reliably biting, literate lyrical underside. Murdoch remains the rare frontman worth reading. But, as always, there's plenty on the listener's plate beyond exposition.

Although Murdoch has essentially reinvented his band -- following some key lineup changes -- the notion that Belle & Sebastian have grown into a multi-faceted band within the last few years is disingenuous. They were always more ambitious than the "twee" tag would suggest, and the evidence was especially easy to find on their singles ("Lazy Line Painter Jane" or "Jonathan David," for example).

With that said, Murdoch still finds some new wardrobes on The Life Pursuit. "The Blues Are Still Blue" is a snappy piece of '70s glam. "White Collar Boy" also brings the rock, riding an electronic buzz and a big group sing-along as the percussion stomps along and the guitars build to a big (albeit background) climax.

Other forays aren't successful, but they're still mildly fun. "Sukie in the Graveyard" is a charming character study with an attention-grabbing guitar solo -- yup, guitar solo -- at its middle, but languishes because the vocals feel too crowded and the arrangement, too, is overly busy. The lite-radio soul of "Song For Sunshine" also doesn't make much of an impression; these moments are when the band comes closest to duplicating the more affected elements of Dear Catastrophe Waitress.

In this case, though, the misfires are hardly cause for alarm; they're just the side effects of taking chances, keeping playful and moving forward. The Life Pursuit is the most important record Belle & Sebastian have added to their catalog in a good number of years. Even better, it's also the most fun -- and that seems to be true for the makers as well as the listeners. -- Adam McKibbin, The Red Alert

Proving that the comeback of 2003's Dear Catastrophe Waitress was no fluke, Belle & Sebastian's sixth full-length album, The Life Pursuit, is a sleek, stylish affair that finds the group quietly pursuing new ground without forsaking its trademark witty, literary, tuneful pop. In retrospect, Dear Catastrophe Waitress wasn't so much a comeback as a restart, finding Stuart Murdoch reasserting himself as the group's undisputed leader in the wake of the departure of Stuart David and Isobel Campbell, but equally as important was the presence of superstar producer Trevor Horn, who didn't gloss up B&S as much as gave them focus and direction, along with a greater musical palette. The Life Pursuit is the logical next step forward, retaining Murdoch's signature wry vignettes but dressing them in new sonic colors. Although their collaboration with Horn started Belle & Sebastian on this path, he has been replaced with producer Tony Hoffer, best known for his work on Beck's Guero, Air's 10,000 Hz Legend, and Supergrass' Life on Other Planets. On each of those records, Hoffer was able to retain the artist's core identity while expanding their musical horizons, and that's the case with The Life Pursuit. Here, Belle & Sebastian dabble in glam rock, lazy lounge jazz, and ersatz blues, enhancing their swinging '60s pop fixation with horn charts, the occasional flute, and Motown rhythms, while even rocking harder than ever before (but that's on a relative scale, of course). This results in a fresh, lively listen, but a rich one too, since there's more to hear in the music as well as the words upon repeated listens. It's not a radical departure for Belle & Sebastian -- there are several intimate, folky numbers that would comfortably fit on their previous records. But having these tunes surrounded by songs that successfully stretch the group's sound gives The Life Pursuit an unexpected, wholly welcome vitality that not only produces a satisfying album, but suggests that a decade removed from their masterwork, If You're Feeling Sinister, Belle & Sebastian have managed to find a way to grow without changing their identity. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide