The last few Arab Strap records have been mostly composed of downbeat songs with slow minimal beats, carefully picked guitar and piano, and the telling/singing of depressing stories of heartbreak, a lover's deception, and other disheartening tales of woe. So, when I heard "Love Detective," the first single off their new album The Red Thread, I was a little taken back.
Though "Love Detective" has most of the elements of a traditional Arab Strap song, it has one very different quality to it that makes it unique, it has groove... or a "pimp-assed groove" as the packaging says. Normally in an Arab Strap song, guitar and/or piano are center stage with the speaking, however, in "Love Detective," light keyboard and guitar parts are buried in the background and a bouncy Substance-era New Order bass line, and an unusually playful beat moved to the forefront.
And while I love to shake my ass when I hear some funky beats, yo!, and I like a band who is able to experiment and expand their sound, I was glad that "Bullseye" and "We Know Where you Live," the other two songs on the Love Detective single were less upbeat and energetic.
"Bullseye," starts with a single picked acoustic guitar and a keyboard sampler playing varying airy tones while Moffat tells his story (which, thanks to how low the vocals are mixed and how thick his accent is, it is impossible for me to understand). As the song progresses, deep booming tom and bass drums pound in the background of the chorus creating more tension than is usual in Arab Strap's music.
Much like "Bullseye," "We Know Where you Live" has real drums instead of the traditionally-used programmed beats. However, where "Bullseye" sounded like an a normal song written and recorded by Moffat and Middleton, "We Know Where You Live" sounds more like Moffat recorded speaking into the mix of an amazing Mogwai song: tight, full drumming and mellow electric guitar and bass guitar melodies coming in and out of the basic drum rhythm. Additional guitars and keyboards are added, and the song builds as Moffat spins his story. "Get in the car, we can go for a drive. We can find them in the street, put them in the car, take them somewhere quiet and fuck them over." Much like a Mogwai song, "We Know Where you Live" drops and builds a few more times before the end.
The Love Detective CD single is the most diverse and rewarding release to date from Arab Strap and is well worth the import cost and the pain of tracking it down.
DARON GARDNER