Red Thread

Arab Strap | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 27, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Matador Records
• ASIN: B000058TAY
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #104,613 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Aidan Moffat and Malcom Middleton return with another intense and powerful work. Aidan's first person tales of relationships gone awry have always made for uneasy listening, but they've never had a backdrop as lush and stirring as this. Standard jewel case. 2001 release.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better then the last..., February 28, 2001

By 

Mats (Haninge, Stockholm Sweden) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Thread (Audio CD)

OK, so I'm kind of new with Arab Strap, I first started listening to them with the release of Elephant Shoe and, although I enjoyed it very much, I was never pushed to research the group's earlier releases. However, seeing this new realease in stores today, I took a quick listen and was immediately taken into the Arab Starp atmosphere which, this time, is, if possible, even more bare, dark and beautiful.

Thematicely speaking, The Red Thread is very much in the same alley as Elephant Shoe. That which seperates them, something obvious from the first listen, is how much more absorbing the new release is. Please don't confuse this with accessibility, Arab Strap are not, and I doubt have ever been, an easy listen; there are no pop hooks and radio-friendly moments here. What you get is stronger material very much in line with the thoughts of artists who probably have the most serious and intersting insights on the different aspects of love and it's consequences (in rock music today at least), making it more coherent and just plain enjoyable (for those dreary) as a whole. Elephant Shoe was good, this is just incredible.

Please listen to (The Long Sea) immediately after a break-up.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the strap trudge on expertly..., February 28, 2001

By 

"poniesforchrist" (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Thread (Audio CD)

arab strap is one of only a handful of bands making music today that has little patience for trends, zeitgeist, compromise, etc...things artists should notice, but be very wary of...

the scottish duo have been making music in their own universe for a few years now (much to our benefit), and although they are often harassed for having too "narrow" an "oeuvre", they have managed to squeeze an enormous amount of emotional and sonic variety out their slowed-down, bleak, self-deprecating music...

after the exquisite 'philophobia' and 'elephant shoe' LPs, which were haunting, graceful, gruff, and altogether some of the most honest "rock" music around, the strap have now released their 'red thread' LP...

the usual suspects are here: malcolm's minimalist guitar, aidan's muffled, misery-soaked verse and voice, the occasional duet with the angel-lovely (in spite of herself) adele bethel, the savvy beats that mix slo-fi and clubland, and so on...

the narratives revolve around aidan's obsession with love and sex, mostly sex it seems...still, in his spare, tender and brutal (yes, it is both of those) style of writing, the songs' ugliest subject matter pales next aidan's being a big teddy bear...a man who is jealous, horny, selfish, insensitive, sensitive, heartbroken, funny, sad, and on and on...in other words, a REAL PERSON, something that so many rockers are afraid to come across as...

musically, 'red thread' is very inventive, unsurprisingly...there are soaring strings, odd samples, blips and bleeps and scowling electronics, haunting piano...these two scotsmen have a stellar history of letting their ideas run rampant within their musical philosophy...so instead of a codeine record we get a wealth of sonic variety and emotional content...

"haunt me" features an outright gorgeous duet between aidan and bethel (aidan sings his bloody heart out!?), and is the most straightforwardly lovely thing they've done...and it's sandwiched between two other songs exploring similar themes in entirely different ways musically...

if only more of today's artists were as bold, as honest, as human, as creative, as fooking terrific as arab strap...as it stands they offer hope (in an downbeat way, admittedly) that there will be exciting music to turn to when real music fans need it...which for me, is all the damn time...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gentler, Nastier, April 17, 2001

By 

Dirk Hugo (Cape Town, South Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Thread (Audio CD)

Arab Strap's unique appeal has always lain in the juxtaposition of Malcolm Middleton's elegant instrumentation with Aidan Moffat's sinisterly laddish carnal obsessions. Occasionally their songs have an upbeat and rogueish soul quality, vocals drawled in a heavy Scottish brogue over a curious Glaswegian Motown beat, but it is the slower and more spacious songs on which Arab Strap truly shine. 'The Long Sea' is easily this album's finest, showcasing chiming guitars and meandering keyboards with a Middle Eastern quality that are later overwhelmed by a wall of rich and sumptuous feedback.