God Help The Girl

God Help The Girl é o novo projeto musical de Stuart Murdoch do Belle & Sebastian. Oficialmente, os membros do grupo são, além de Stuart, as vocalistas Catherine Ireton, Brittany Stallings, Anna Miles, Celia Garcia, Dina Bankole e Alex Klobouk. As gravações contaram ainda com os outros membros do Belle & Sebastian, Neil Hannon do the Divine Comedy e uma orquestra de cordas com 45 músicos conduzidos por Rick Wentworth.

O álbum de estréia, também chamado ‘God Help The Girl’, será lançado oficialmente em 22 de junho próximo via Matador Records na America do Norte e na Europa pela Rough Trade Records. Precedido pelo single da canção “Come Monday Night” no próximo 11 de maio. Mas claro, ambos já circulam na grande rede, a banda já disponibilizou para download gratuito o primeiro single e o álbum há pouco vazou na blogosfera e é uma beleza.

MP3: God Help The Girl - “Come Monday Night”

* Confira aqui, num post anterior, 3 canções em suas primeiras versões.



Eis as listas de faixas e vocalistas de cada canção:

01. Act of the Apostle (Catherine Ireton)
02. God Help The Girl (Catherine)
03. Pretty Eve In The Tub (Stuart, Catherine)
04. A Unified Theory (instrumental)
05. Hiding Neath My Umbrella (Catherine, Stuart)
06. Funny Little Frog (Brittany Stallings)
07. If You Could Speak (Catherine, Anna Miles)
08. Musician Please Take Heed (Catherine)
09. Perfection as a Hipster (Neil Hannon, Catherine)
10. Come Monday Night (Catherine)
11. Music Room Window (instrumental)
12. I Just Want His Jeans (Asya)
13. Iʼll Have To Dance With Cassie (Catherine)
14. A Down and Dusky Blonde (Dina Bankole, Catherine, Celia Garcia, Brittany, Asya)



Ouça o álbum/Listen the album God Help The Girl:



Release:

‘God Help The Girl’ is a story set to music, which Stuart Murdoch has been working on intermittently for the last five years, its origin in some songs that were written while Belle and Sebastian were touring ‘Dear Catastrophe Waitress’ in 2004. Stuart explains:

"I was out for a run and I got this tune in my head and it occurred to me that it wasn't a Belle & Sebastian song. I could hear female voices and strings, I could hear the whole thing, but I just couldn’t envisage myself singing it with the group.”

As more songs emerged, a shape and theme began to develop, before the music was actually recorded, or the vocalists found to take on the parts.

“All the time I was touring with Belle and Sebastian, I was putting aside songs for certain characters,” he says, “and at one point I realised, that it would make sense to string them together to form the backbone of a musical narrative.”

The hunt was then on to find some great new voices to put to use during the recordings. A competition where singers could add their vocals to the demo recordings of ‘Funny Little Frog’ and ‘The Psychiatrist Is In’ was posted on the iMeem social networking site and attracted around 400 entries. From these, Brittany Stallings (Olympia, Washington) and Dina Bankole (Jackson, Michigan) came to Glasgow in February 2008 to rehearse and record some parts, Brittany making the lead vocal part on ‘Funny Little Frog’ her own.

Among those who auditioned early in the process was Catherine Ireton, who had moved from Limerick to Glasgow, a friend of a friend, who had previously appeared on the sleeve of Belle and Sebastian’s last single, ‘The White Collar Boy.’ She took on the lead vocals for the majority of the songs on the record.

The recording continued during 2008, with a total of nine different singers (including Neil Hannon from the Divine Comedy and Asya from American teen trio, Smoosh) joining the members of Belle and Sebastian over the course of a few months. During this, Mick Cooke’s orchestral arrangements were recorded in London with the orchestra before the finishing touches were applied in Glasgow.

The result is a breathtaking record from one of pop’s most singular voices, combining the strengths and feel of the early Belle and Sebastian records in a broader musical palette, which draws equally on musicals, sixties’ girl groups, eighties’ indie and, most of all, classic pop records. And, in Catherine, Stuart has found a rare talent - her clear, lilting vocals bringing to life the characters in Stuart’s imagination and making for an ambitious and engrossing musical journey.

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