Belle and Sebastian have announced their tenth album and first studio full-length in seven years.
Titled ‘A Bit Of Previous’, it’s set for release on 6th May via Matador, and comes alongside a lead single, ‘Unnecessary Drama’. “The song is about a young person experimenting in being a human again after a forced hiatus”, says frontman Stuart Murdoch. “The person is weighing up whether or not it’s worth the mess! Still, you dip your toe in and it becomes delicious, and you get too much of it. Between trouble and nothing, we still choose the trouble.”
‘A Bit Of Previous’ was recorded in Belle and Sebastian’s hometown of Glasgow after plans to fly to Los Angeles in the spring of 2020 were scrapped due to the pandemic.
Murdoch explains, in the album’s liner notes: “We did it together, us and the city. This record was the first ‘full’ LP recording for B&S in Glasgow since Fold Your Hands Child, 1999. We clocked in every morning, we played our songs, we wrote together, we tried new things, we took the proverbial lump of clay, and we threw it every day.”
A Bit Of Previous Track List
- Young And Stupid
- If They’re Shooting At You
- Talk To Me Talk To Me
- Reclaim The Night
- Do It For Your Country
- Prophets On Hold
- Unnecessary Drama
- Come On Home
- A World Without You
- Deathbed Of My Dreams
- Sea Of Sorrow
- Working Boy In New York City
The band have also announced a spring-summer US tour, alongside rescheduled UK and European tour dates for 2022 and 2023.
May
24 Rabbit Rabbit, Asheville
25 TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park, Indianapolis
26 The Riviera Theatre, Chicago
27 Palace Theatre, Minneapolis
28 The Admiral, Omaha
31 Paramount Theatre, Seattle
June
1 Roseland Theatre, Portland
3 Greek Theatre, Berkeley
4 Greek Theatre, LA
5 Pappy and Harriet’s, Pioneertown
7 The Van Buren, Phoenix
8 The Bridge at Santa Fe Brewing Company
10 The Criterion, Oklahoma City
11 Stubb’s Waller Creek, Austin
13 Ryman Auditorium, Nashville
14 Red Hat Amphitheater, Raleigh
15 Wolf Trap Foundation, Vienna
16 SummerStage, Central Park, NY
17 Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia
18 Roadrunner, Boston
July
15 Bristol, UK Lloyds Amphitheatre, Bristol Harbourside
16 Stirling, UK Cardross Estate
November
13 Cardiff, UK Great Hall – Student’s Union
14 London, UK The Roundhouse
15 London, UK The Roundhouse
17 Sheffield, UK O2 Academy Sheffield
18 Liverpool, UK Olympia
19 Hull, UK Asylum, Hull University Union
21 Aberdeen, UK Beach Ballroom
23 Edinburgh, UK Usher Hall
24 Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK O2 City Hall, Newcastle
25 Manchester, UK Manchester Academy
27 Cambridge, UK Corn Exchange
28 Birmingham, UK O2 Academy Birmingham
29 Southampton, UK O2 Guildhall Southampton
30 Brighton, UK Brighton Dome
January 2023
08 UK, Motherwell Concert Hall
10 France, Paris, Casino de Paris
11 Holland, Utrecht, Tivoli Grote Zaal
14 Germany, Hamburg, Laeiszhalle
16 Sweden, Gothenburg Tradgarn
17 Sweden, Stockholm Filadelfia
18 Norway, Oslo Sentrum Scene
19 Denmark, Copenhagen Vega
21 Germany, Berlin Tempodrom
22 Germany, Munich Tonhalle
23 Switzerland, Zurich X-tra Limmathaus
25 France, Clermont-Ferrand, Co-op de Mai
26 Italy, Milan Fabrique
