God Help The Girl – Come Monday Night

God Help The Girl

In the three years since The Life Pursuit it would be totally unfair to say Belle & Sebastian’s fanbase has diminished, as any cardigan-cocooned fop will testify. But perhaps it is fair to say that anticipation of new output from Stuart Murdoch isn’t quite at the giddy peaks it reached around the time of the classy If You’re Feeling Sinister.

Interestingly, Murdoch has chosen to stake a step away from his band of merry Scots with new project God Help The Girl. ‘Come Monday Night’ is set to be pieced into a concept album of sorts, involving grandiose strings and a vague idea of storytelling, sound-tracking a musical film of Murdoch’s own creation.

This may all sound like the makings of an insane, Prince-esque vanity project but the track itself is a slice of ’60s indebted sweet and soulful balladry, swooning over a sunny London day. From the outset the track conjures to mind very prominent reference points of Bryter Later-era Nick Drake, with bittersweet vocals that could easily be mistaken for those of Nico. Lyrically, the song is very similar to Murdoch’s previous output, revelling in the quirky reference points and clever puns that made Belle and Sebastian so popular to the romantically minded, opting for a simplistic approach to daily monotony.

“Come Monday night/the day of work is done/Tuesday morning looms/the grey of ordinariness”

Rather than a ham-fisted attempt at retro-chic this naivety creates a charming and loveable atmosphere.

‘Come Monday Night’ is hindered by its insistence at aping its relative influences, but still manages to conjure up a slice of enjoyable sweeping pop nostalgia – despite never straying far from safe territory.

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