In the same way that rainy Saturdays recall Velvets-era Lou Reed or Nick Drake’s Pink Moon, a profound and mystical whimsy usually suffuses any Belle and Sebastian album. With that in mind, a few new firsts define frontman Stuart Murdoch and company’s latest; most notably, it’s their Matador label debut, and their first with producer Ben H. Allen (known for his ties to Atlanta’s hip-hop scene, and for his transition to the indie underground with Animal Collective, Kaiser Chiefs and more). Allen asserts his touch on the punchy synth-disco cuts “The Party Line” and the oddly titled “Enter Sylvia Plath”—both
jarring turns, but of a piece with the rest of Girls in Peacetime, which genre-hops between art-rock, electro-lounge and pastoral psychedelia. By the time we get to “The Everlasting Muse”—with a folksy bridge that recalls Welsh singer Mary Hopkin’s classic “Those Were the Days”—and the flower-powerful closer “Today (This Army’s for Peace),” the swinging ’60s suddenly feel very close indeed.