Arab Strap were full of middle-aged malaise from day one, at least spiritually. Now, 30 years on they’ve grown into the curmudgeons they were always destined to be, but their ninth album is just as funny and insightful as ever, as the grinding minutiae of life’s banality is contrasted with touching messages of hope and contentment.
Many of these songs are more or less an inventory of gripes on a given theme: internet slop, physical decrepitude, the manosphere etc. All backed with varied arrangements, like the no-wave skronk of ‘Dollar Park’, the old-school thrash finale on ‘You You You’ or the industrial jazz-rock bombast of ‘I Get Noise’. It’s a rich musical abyss for Aidan Moffat to shout into.
But while the one-liners and pop culture…

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