Belle & Sebastian
The Life Pursuit

THE REVIEW

When I read the various reviews that tore this album apart, even labeling it as the worst by Belle & Sebastian (justification: not spontaneous, less innocent compared to previous works, they changed their sound to reach a wider audience, not indie enough, too pop), I felt disappointed and offended. Actually, let's be honest: I was pissed. It's like when someone talks badly about a friend of yours, or worse, like when someone cynically lists the reasons why it's not worth falling in love with a particular girl.

Yes, because I secretly fell in love with “The Life Pursuit” and, as when at the beginning of a story (of love), I became literally addicted to it. Indeed, I've been listening to nothing else for quite some time (even though the CD was released just a few days ago. The magic of the internet...) and those few times I approached a new album (“Hellequin Song” by Cesare Basile, very beautiful by the way), I always felt the need to listen again to “The Life Pursuit” in its entirety. It relaxes me with its delicate atmospheres and excites me with its lively rhythms, amazes me with its crystal-clear arrangements and flawless execution, exalts me with its refined catchiness, and confuses me to the point that I can't do anything else other than listening to it, since I am now relaxed, excited, amazed, and exalted all at the same time. Practically a boiled fish in love. And jealous too: maybe because other people, who perhaps don't deserve it, are listening, have listened, and will listen to my album, maybe because I arrived late to Belle & Sebastian. Who knows? And so, I become jealous.

But the problem is another one. I can't get rid of these thirteen songs; they are so subtly invasive that I'll stop loving them only when they've definitively worn me out and they remain only a bad memory, like "how could I listen to that stuff?" Like in a love story. But I don't want that to happen. So what to do? I have developed such an obvious and dangerous dependency that alarms me and makes me opt for a drastic solution: forced abstinence. No use... “The Life Pursuit” fills my ears even in these moments, just as I'm writing this delirious post. And I already start to hate it. (Thankfully).