Write About Love

Write About Love is a grower-- the sort of record you need to play repeatedly, listening to how it fits together, before it can really ingratiate itself.

Perhaps the lack of time to experiment (not that Belle and Sebastian have ever been an "experimental" band) led to the finished product being so middle of the road.

The album collects most of the winning stylistic evolutions that the band has undergone during the past decade and produces something fresh: a modern rock album without a single skip song.

You’d be mad to say it exceeds their Nineties output, but it’s as good as anything they’ve put out in the last decade.

Write About Love may not be a great leap forward for Belle and Sebastian, but it’s such an enjoyable record it’s difficult to hold it against them.

Write About Love has enough to recommend it, but too little to justify its existence.