Belle and Sebastian have shared details of their forthcoming new album A Bit of Previous, their first full-length since 2015’s Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance. Their 9th studio album will be released via Matador on May 6th and they’ve also rescheduled their postponed UK tour for later in the year.
The band have also released the lead single ‘Unnecessary Drama’: a relatable tale of returning back to life after time away – “The song is about a young person experimenting in being a human again after a forced hiatus”, says frontman Stuart Murdoch. “The person is weighing up whether or not it’s worth the mess! Still, you dip your toe in and it becomes delicious, and you get too much of it. Between trouble and nothing, we still choose the trouble.”
The video for ‘Unnecessary Drama’ sees the Glaswegian seven-piece at their rehearsal space, seemingly being viewed and analysed as they take part in several teambuilding exercises and games. The song sits comfortably amongst the band’s classic back catalogue; propelled by the lead use of a piercing Harmonica driving it forward. Watch below.
Recorded solely in Glasgow – a rarity for Belle and Sebastian in recent years – after plans to record in L.A were shelved during the Pandemic, A Bit of Previous came together with the band’s rigid work ethic a key component. Murdoch explains more in the linear notes, “We did it together, us and the city. This record was the first ‘full’ LP recording for B&S in Glasgow since Fold Your Hands Child, 1999. We clocked in every morning, we played our songs, we wrote together, we tried new things, we took the proverbial lump of clay, and we threw it every day.”
Belle and Sebastian have rescheduled their postponed February tour for November. Dates are:
Nov-13 Cardiff, UK Great Hall – Student’s Union
Nov-14 London, UK The Roundhouse
Nov-15 London, UK The Roundhouse
Nov -17 Sheffield, UK O2 Academy Sheffield
Nov-18 Liverpool, UK Olympia
Nov -19 Hull, UK Asylum, Hull University Union
Nov-21 Aberdeen, UK Beach Ballroom
Nov-23 Edinburgh, UK Usher Hall
Nov-24 Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK O2 City Hall, Newcastle
Nov-25 Manchester, UK Manchester Academy
Nov-27 Cambridge, UK Corn Exchange
Nov-28 Birmingham, UK O2 Academy Birmingham
Nov-29 Southampton, UK O2 Guildhall Southampton
Nov-30 Brighton, UK Brighton Dome
Photo: Hollie Fernando
