Belle & Sebastian - Tigermilk
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CD Details
Artist: Belle & SebastianEdition: Music CD
Format: Original recording reissued
CD Release Date: 1999-07-13
Music Label: Matador Records
Soundtracks:
- The State I Am In
- Expectations
- She's Losing It
- You're Just A Baby
- Electronic Renaissance
- I Could Be Dreaming
- We Rule The School
- My Wandering Days Are Over
- I Don't Love Anyone
- Mary Joe
Music reviews of Tigermilk
Music Review: Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright...
Rating: 4 Stars
Hard to phathom how this little doozy got started. So some college kids from Glasgow got together to put to music some penned up material from aspiring poet Stuart Murdoch, and the result was a very limited edition of about 1,000 vinyl copies of what became known as "Tigermilk". Usually this stuff gets a B+ by the instructor, is listened to a few times by family members and close friends of the 'band', then gets forgotten, and the students graduate and get real jobs or something. Hah, well, sometimes in the vast sea of college projects rises to the surface a creation that doesn't go away...or refuses to go away, as the case may be. Like the "Blair Witch" phenomenom, this quiet, unassuming set of 10 songs caught a wave -- a tidal wave so-to-speak -- and for its first few years of its existence, was spread mostly through word of mouth (and then through music file sharing programs, at least until more copies went into print) at an alarming rate. Why is that? What makes this record so special?
Well, start with the opening song, "The State I Am In". This song begins with a faye acapella and lots of atmosphere...just Murdoch and a quiet accoustic guitar. The voice is delicate, but gripping, and the lyrics offer an intriguing puzzle that sucks you in at once. You could swear it was Nick Drake singing from beyond the grave. It virtually insists that, if you are to listen, you are to give it your full and undivided attention. And slowly enough you realize, this guy has something really important to say...passively perhaps, almost without consequence...but you can't help but think this could be your younger sibling or best friend that is suddenly opening their heart and soul to you. For instance, "The priest in the booth had a photographic memory for all he had heard. He took all of my sins, and he wrote a pocket novel called The State That I Am In. So I gave myself to God. There was a pregnant pause before He said ok. Now I spend my day turning tables round in Marks & Spencer's, they don't seem to mind". Doesn't seem like much, but to hear it softly sung and accompanied by a lovely melody that builds gradually before reaching a peak, hovering delightfully at its apex over a truly gorgeous chorus...it is with one quick listen (or maybe it was two?) that it becomes apparent this isn't some fiviolous group of punks smashing irrelevant notes together in their basement, driving their parents insane. This IS something special.
"Tigermilk" is bascially Stuart Murdoch's first solo album (ha ha). Sure, he has a backing accompaniment of five other band members who play various instruments and occassionally offer backing vocals and other contributions. But Murdoch writes, sings, and plays guitar in all ten tracks here...and that's a great thing really. His acute ideas for harmonizing stories of teen angst ("Expectations"), awkward character studies ("She's Losing It"), philosophical renderings ("I Could Be Dreaming") are obviously influenced from many different leanings (The Smiths, Field Mice, Love, Nick Drake, etc), but he combines them into a unique and refreshing approach that stands at odds with most contemporary music of its time -- mid-90s -- and at the same time inspires a host of twenty and thirty somethings...of all sorts of backgrounds...to hitch on for a ride into a world of escapism, perhaps even necessary isolationism. It is a big bad world out there after all, and where to go and seek shelter when you are a generation X'er (or Y'er), with all the expectations, pressures and sensory overload threatening to bury you under its weight? These guys know your anguish, certainly, and in turn offer you just the right recipe for sublime transcendental cravings. Listen to "I Could Be Dreaming" for instance...it has perhaps the most complex production of any song on the album, with instruments, mixings, and overdubs weaving a textured backdrop that fits seamlessly with the suggestive lyrics presented in a rambling, stream of conscious fashion so as to evoke our inner most desires -- those sames ones strangled by daily inhibitions, only to awaken during our reveries. (Why the song tails off into Isobel Campbell giving a recitation of several passages from the novel Rip Van Winkle, I have no idea, other than it's non-too-subtle tie into to the song's title, but it's loads of fun regardless). Or "We Rule The School", which contains excerpts from Panchebel's Canon, not to mention the most enchanting flute instrumental I've ever heard.
All tracks here are extremely well done, and don't sound anything like what you would expect from a group of inexperienced music students. They're clever, inventive, familiar yet crisp and new all at once. As sad as some of the themes are, the tunes are decidedly uplifting and toe-tapping in a majority of the cases (just listen to the pop giddyness of "You're Just A Baby", or the soaring instrumentation and vocals behind "My Wandering Days Are Over"). Other notables include "I Don't Love Anyone", which is arguably the most punkish B&S ever got....that is to say, not very. But even with this light-hearted dabble into the world of adolescent rebellion, it's done in a fashion that's instantly recognizable and complete with a sing-along chorus that is reminiscent of some of the best pop from the 60's. The only real odd-ball tune on here is "Electronic Renaissance", which is a stab at early 80s techno/synth pop. Just what the point of this was I'm not sure, but as much as it kind of disrupts the flow of the album, in retrospect it is still a well done tune that is just as good as anything Duran Duran gave us (okay, maybe it's not on the same level as "The Reflex", but it manages to work nevertheless).
Overall, a very impressive debut. The word-of-mouth success of Tigermilk thankfully led to the group's continuing efforts of translating Murdoch's songs and ideas into actual music. Who knew that their next project, after using more time to crispen the sound and further embellish the harmonies, would be one of the most memorable musical achievements of the last 15-20 years?
Description of Tigermilk
The debut album by the stunning Glasgow pop octet, offered for first time on cheap vinyl with MP3 coupon.Tigermilk is simply gorgeous, an unaffected debut equal to the Smiths' finest work, and seemed to arrive fully formed out of nowhere in May 1996. In songs like the pastoral, shimmering "The State I Am In" and the wonderfully naive "We Rule the School," bandleader Stuart Murdoch had already laid the seeds that would later come to such full, poignant fruition on If You're Feeling Sinister and The Boy with the Arab Strap. The 10 songs here have such a natural pop sensibility, such a grace and resonance, it's hard now to believe that Tigermilk was only originally intended as a small-time project between seven Glaswegian friends (the original vinyl release was limited to 1,000 copies). Whimsical, surreal, and beautiful, this reissue is well worth the wait. --Everett True
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