Arab Strap

HE first sound you hear on Arab Strap’s second album is a dolorous Scottish T voice delivering a solemn message. “It was,” the voice says, “the biggest cock you’d ever seen…”

For an impressive 10 years (Ten Years Of Tears as their best-of had it), this kind of unvarnished delivery of candid material was the sole stamping ground of

Malcolm Middleton (guitar) and Aidan Moffat (vocals, drums). Sonically the product of the pair’s twin interests in lo-fi music and in getting wrecked in clubs at the weekend, Arab Strap’s unique talent was raw verisimilitude. Rows (“Don’t try to tell me Kate Moss ain’t pretty…”), betrayals, and emotional unease were all picked over in their songs, with a forensic eye for detail. Their first classic recording was “The First Big Weekend”, a portrait of Thursday-to-Monday hedonism in which similarity to actual events was entirely intentional.

After 15 years away, Arab Strap now return with a new and excellent, album titled As Days Get Dark, prompting Middleton and Moffat to join Uncut via Zoom and pick over the scenes of their many sensitive crimes.

“I think some people still think that Arab Strap is about me moaning about girlfriends and how I’ve been treated,” says Aidan, “but in all of these songs it’s all about me being the arsehole. They’re not accusatory songs. They might detail some stuff, but it’s me that’s the problem.”

JOHNROBINSON

THE WEEK NEVER STARTS ROUND HERE

CHEMIKAL UNDERGROUND, 1996

The uncompromising debut. Slinty post-rock collides with Dictaphone confessionals and Falkirk mockumentary. Contains real names, but no-one wins the big cash prize.

We’d been in each other’s orbit for a while. Malcolm had been in a band called Rabid Lettuce. The first time I sang with you was when you did that gig at The