Arab Strap: Mad For Sadness

Scotland has long been a breeding ground for sharp indie-rock: The early '80s alone produced The Jesus And Mary Chain, Aztec Camera, Vaselines, Orange Juice, and more. More recently, The Delgados, Belle And Sebastian, and Mogwai have hailed from the land of kilts, and if there's one thing they have in common, it's that they don't have much in common. Add to the list Arab Strap, still probably best known from the title of Belle And Sebastian's third album (The Boy With The Arab Strap) but quickly growing into a band of some repute. Arab Strap is the least overtly poppy of Scotland's current crop of indie stars. Though it periodically comes close to Mogwai's moody atmospherics, Arab Strap (formed in the mid-'90s by Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton) is more inclined toward gloom and doom, resembling such American sad-sack acts as Labradford or Low, as well as slightly more dynamic touchstones like Joy Division. Such sedate music wouldn't seem suited to live performance, but Mad For Sadness is a surprisingly strong representation of the group's slow, sad appeal. Recorded live in London in 1998, the disc takes a trip down recent memory lane, including such strikingly bleak tracks as "New Birds" and "Girls Of Summer." Never mind the applause: There's nothing especially cheery about this stuff, and the clapping comes across as little more than an excuse to break the awkward, stunned silence. Elephant Shoe, Arab Strap's third full-length, continues the mope marathon with "Cherub," "Leave The Day Free," "Direction Of Strong Man," and the barely enunciated abortion number "Pro-(Your)Life." It's some of the most depressing music ever made, and unlike The Cure you can't even dance to it, but that appears to be the point. Music can wallow in misery, too, and Arab Strap's mumbled malaise makes the occasional dreariness and disappointment of real life that much less dispiriting. For anyone who doubts that life can always get worse, Arab Strap offers recorded proof.