Name: Philophobia
Brand: Arab Strap

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

197206

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2020-02-28

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Revol­ver

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

852545003868

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Total Cap

2 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Arab Strap

Genre US

Rock-Pop

Label US

1972

<p>Arab Strap is an indie pop band hailing from Falkirk, Scotland. Formed in 1995, the band gained recognition for their unique blend of melancholic lyrics and atmospheric soundscapes. After a successful run until 2006, Arab Strap went on hiatus but reunited several times since then, with notable comebacks in 2011, 2016, and most recently in 2020. With their emotionally charged music and captivating performances, Arab Strap continues to captivate audiences worldwide.</p>

Philophobia, Arab Strap’s sophomore slam dunk released in the spring of 1998, begins with one of the most memorable opening lines in all of indie rock: “It was the biggest cock you’d ever seen, but you’ve no idea where that cock has been.” So begins an album that, while picking up thematically where the duo’s debut album The Week Never Starts Round Here left off, promises from its very first seconds a renewed sense of purpose: the narratives are more streamlined, the music more confident and mature. Gone are the sketches and doodles that unquestionably distinguished 1996’s The Week Never Starts Round Here as the work of first timers, replaced with a consistent, almost conceptual, musical framework. On Philophobia, singer and lyricist Aidan Moffat’s realism is more profane, gritty and poignant, while multi-instrumentalist Malcolm Middleton’s honeyed orchestrations increasingly provide clinics in subtlety and restraint.

Part of the appeal of Arab Strap’s post-everything music is the way the group’s songs make every listener feel like either a voyeur or a trusted confidante. The ever-present humanity in future sex advice columnist Moffat’s first person tales of debauchery and regret is a through-line running through each of these frank and vivid songs: the same narrator who confesses to sniffing his fingers after a sexual encounter and boasts about the size of his penis also yearns to “hug” a lover to death, finds himself crying on the bus, and wonders idly—but hopefully—whether or not he’s truly in love with the woman he’s just slept with. It is this duality, complemented by Middleton’s imaginative and deeply sensitive accompaniment, that makes Philophobia one of the most original and most enduring front-to-back albums in the canon of modern indie rock; over two decades later, it still sounds warm to the touch.<br>

Philophobia

Music US