The widely acclaimed Scottish indie duo, Arab Strap, have announced a series of live dates in Scotland in December to celebrate 25 years of their second album, Philophobia, which was released in April 20, 1998.
Philophobia Undressed will see Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton ‘quietly celebrate’ the album’s quarter-century milestone by performing it live in full as a duo, presenting its 13 tracks in their most intimate form in "suitably intimate settings" across Scotland in December - following dates in the UK and European Union earlier this year.
The album attracted positive critical attention at the time, and it made inroads into the college charts in America.
Looking back on it a few years ago, Nick Soulsby, of the Popmatters website, wrote: "If the first record could have felt like some kind of fluke or novelty, Arab Strap’s sophomore effort showed a band more than capable of delivering on their promise.
Mad, sad, but no longer so bad
"It’s remarkable to realize that — barring very specific deployment of organ, cello, strings — everything here is Middleton and Moffat alone, reproducing the impact of a full band. This was where the band stepped up and became genuine contenders, outgrowing amateurism without turning into poseurs".
While never ones to dwell too much on the past, Moffat and Middleton are said to find it difficult to ignore the magnitude of this particular anniversary and decided to honour the album.
“With a new album about halfway ready for release next year, we thought we could easily ignore our second album’s 25th birthday", the duo said in a statement. "But we find it hard to say no to Philophobia.
"If our first album was a ramshackle oddity filled with in-jokes and formerly private tape moments that we never expected to bother many ears, it was Philophobia where everything started to come together, when we began to realise making music might have a future for us, and the Arab Strap sounds and themes began to take shape.
"If you’ve seen us play in the past few years, you’ll know we still include quite a few of its songs in our set lists. These tunes seem to have endured, and it’s probably the only album we’d ever consider performing all the way through".
The statement added: "But, with our new forward-facing philosophy and eighth album on the way, we didn’t want to make too big a deal of it. We hummed, we hawed. Venues for a bells-and-whistles full-band Philophobia tour were on hold for a while, but those plans were abandoned because it just didn’t feel right and, as Aidan said on our last album, we don’t really give a **** about the past.
Music review: Arab Strap, Kelvingrove Bandstand, Glasgow
"But, as we say, it’s hard to say no to Philophobia, and we couldn’t just let its 25th birthday shuffle by unmarked … so we’ve decided to celebrate it after all, but quietly.
"The Philophobia Undressed tour will feature the album in full, but performed by just the two of us – Malcolm and Aidan with a guitar or two, some drum machines and probably a digital Mellotron – as we sing our old songs about being young, in intimate surroundings and, in some cases, visiting towns we haven’t played in a long, long time. We’ll probably play some new songs too.”
The new dates are:
Monday December 4: V&A, Dundee
Tuesday December 5: PJ Molloys, Dunfermline
Wednesday, December 6: Lemon Tree, Aberdeen
Thursday December 7: MacArts, Galashiels
Friday, December 8: Tolbooth, Stirling
Saturday, December 9: Saint Luke’s, Glasgow
Sunday, December 10: Summerhall - Edinburgh
* Tickets for all Philophobia Undressed shows are on sale now at arabstrap.scot. For more information and tour updates, follow Arab Strap on socials @arabstrapband.
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