Aidan Moffat:How To Get To Heaven From Scotland

Indie Music's Perfect Valentine's Day Gift For 2009

Feb 9, 2009

Having ruminated on the effects of unfaithfulness and alcohol abuse with his old band Arab Strap, singer Aidan Moffat returns with an album for the ladies.

Essential Arab Strap albums Philophobia and Elephant Shoe were no strangers to the devastating effects of getting paralytic and sleeping around.

The fact they were delivered by a group sounding like a Scottish Joy Division fronted by Rab.C.Nesbitt ensured they would remain merely a revered cult band.

Arab Strap's Demise and Aidan Moffat's Creative Rebirth

Arab Strap eventually split up in 2006. Guitarist Malcolm Middleton has since carved out a successful solo career, even vying for the 2007 U.K No.1 Christmas single with his typically mordant anthem We're All Going To Die. Now it's vocalist Aidan Moffat (www.aidanmoffat.co.uk) undergoing a rebirth with an upbeat album specifically released with Valentine's Day in mind.

Everything's relative, of course. How To Get To Heaven From Scotland(www.chemikal.co.uk) may have love in mind, but there's still a fetching, autumnal shot of a graveyard adorning the sleeve. Songs like the ghost-denying Atheist's Lament and the bizarre, but brilliant Lullaby For Unborn Child also suggest a pervasive darkness still penetrates Moffatt's lyrical world.

How To Get To Heaven From Scotland: Folk-Flecked Pop Clarity

Nonetheless, there are moments of real pop clarity lurking in here. Big Blonde finds Aidan smitten by the buxom lassie in the corner caff, while Living With You Now outlines how kicking tables and throwing grapefruit at your girlfriend can enhance your sex life. Best of all is the hilarious Oh! Men where a ribald Moffat reams off all the little things from bosoms to wiggling hips that continually have him in thrall to the female sex.

Musically, the album will fit comfortably for anyone accustomed to Arab Strap's minimal, mid-fi approach. Occasionally, the arrangements cry out for Malcolm Middleton's haunting guitar, but the folk-flecked backdrops work well as a rule. Indeed, the rousing, Pogues-style The Last Kiss and the low-key Scottish Motown of Ballad Of The Unsent Letter are among Moffat's best recordings to date.

A Romantic Indie Album for Valentine's Day?

There again, Moffat's idea of romance is some way from the steretypical Red Roses and Milk Tray. Songs like That's Just Love and The Isle Of Ewe are dangerously libidinous, while Now I Know I'm Right suggests there's still a glint of the philanderer in Aidan Moffat's bloodshot eyes. All are fuelled by enough temptation to have prospective Mothers-in-Law locking up their daughters.

Aidan Moffat's mixture of tenderness and furtive introspection hardly amounts to a traditional Valentine's Day gift. However, he's sincere, distinctive and well-versed in the vagaries of love. He may just sweep you off your feet despite yourself.

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