Belle and Sebastian: Our Human Problems
“I’m such a bad listener these days,” Stuart Murdoch admits. “So why should I expect more or less from anyone else?”
Murdoch, the co-founder and primary singer-songwriter for Scottish indie stalwarts Belle and Sebastian, is phoning from across the pond, trying to get a quick chat in before heading to a soundcheck prior to a planned guest spot during a friend’s gig that night. While he is soon forced to cut the interview short and reschedule—after voicing a genuinely warm apology—Murdoch wastes no time in highlighting his self-effacing tendencies in conversation.
“I’m pretty old now,” he laughs while dissecting his music-listening tendencies and how they came to inspire Belle and Sebastian’s decision to mix up their album cycle with a trio of new EPs. “Even when I was listening in the ‘80s, I loved to skip around because I was doing so much DJ-ing at the time. So, to an extent, I was always about singles and looking for tracks that were great for the dance floor. And then, in the ‘90s, I’d stick with my favorites and sort of drift along. Since that time, I’ve just become less prolific—my music listening has gone to bits.”
The band’s new EPs—released one-per-month from this past December through February and collected under the umbrella title How to Solve Our Human Problems—all contain five tracks centered around one single, an approach well-suited for today’s streaming-dominated music landscape. But the idea isn’t a new one for the group, harkening back to their string of three EPs in 1997—Dog on Wheels, Lazy Line Painter Jane and 3.. 6.. 9 Seconds of Light—though the effort was more pre-meditated this time around.
“Because we conceived of it at the same time, it felt like we could use a title and have concurrent artwork, and that there would be an arc,” Murdoch says. “We recorded this sporadically, whereas for the last 10 years, we’ve done focused LP projects. I think the songs pretty much have the same connections that an album has, but we never thought it would be a full LP.”
Since forming to record their debut record Tigermilk in 1996, Belle and Sebastian have offered a consistent output of ear-pleasing, melody driven, just-this-side-of-twee indie-pop with an equally consistent lineup of musicians, all of whom Murdoch has seen develop in their talents and gradually bring more and more to the table, creatively.
“To be honest with you, all I’ve seen is growth,” Murdoch says, looking back on the two-plus decades of evolution that lead to the studio sessions for How to Solve Our Human Problems. “[In the beginning], we weren’t a band; we were a project, this collective of musicians that were gathered together to record the 10 songs on Tigermilk. I had a very clear idea of what I wanted people to do, but from that point onward, it was constant development and listening, people changing seats, and changing instruments and people suddenly coming out as writers.”
Besides Murdoch’s songs, which make up the bulk of Belle and Sebastian’s catalog, the band has welcomed contributions from guitarist Stevie Jackson and multi- instrumentalist Sarah Martin—both of whom also tend to take lead vocals on their own compositions—along with bassist/guitarist Bobby Kildea.
“We like to leave it nice and loose,” Murdoch says of the group’s collaborative tracklist-building mentality. “I just write more than anybody else. So you’ve always got the core of my songs, and then Stevie will bring a couple in, Sarah will bring a couple in and Bob will bring one in, and you end up with a record. It’s a natural thing. We don’t try too hard.”
That laid-back spirit translates into the studio, where the members of Belle and Sebastian do much of their own production, with off-and-on help from outside producers depending on what the track’s songwriter wants. Dealing with a six-piece outfit can make for a stressful producing gig—“There’s so many of us, it could drive you nuts, but I think we’re chill enough that we haven’t really pissed anybody off,” Murdoch quips—but the real magic of the band is that they can still work with each other in close quarters even after so long.
“We are aware of each other’s quirks, and everyone knows what pushes each other’s buttons, if we choose to go there,” Murdoch explains with a familial air. “But the positive side is that, as well as we know each other’s quirks, we know each other’s strengths. Part of the reason we’ve survived 20 years is because we know what will piss each other off, and you tend to stop before you cross that line.”
Belle and Sebastian: Richard Colburn, Stuart Murdoch, Bobby Kildea, Chris Geddes, Sarah Martin, Stevie Jackson
Murdoch is an easy conversationalist, with more than a bit of the soft Scottish accent that colors his singing, and next to none of the traditional aloofness usually embraced by acclaimed indie singer-songwriters. So, it’s not hard to believe him when he explains how he and his band- mates have long harbored a passion for connecting with their fans, a trait showcased in a couple aspects of How to Solve Our Human Problems, including each EPs’ cover art.
Continuing a tradition that started with Tigermilk and was maintained throughout most of Belle and Sebastian’s discography, Murdoch lent his photography skills to the three separate EP covers, though with quite the opposite of his usual approach of shooting friends or band members for the album’s sleeve.
“This time I wanted to shoot so-called volunteers, and I thought it would also be nice for people that bought the record to feel that this was somehow a representation of them,” he says, noting how the band invited 50 fans to London for a series of individual photo shoots, from which the 12 images used on the EP covers were chosen. “I think it ends up being a good mix of everyday people that come to the shows. Having said that, the people were really photogenic. It was great fun.”
Furthering the fan-inclusive aspect of the project, part two of How to Solve Our Human Problems even features a song, “A Plague on All Other Boys,” written by Murdoch about a Belle and Sebastian fan from Nebraska, who won the honor (and a personal visit from Murdoch) from a contest surrounding their 2010 album Write About Love.
“Maybe there’s too much of the schoolteacher or camp counselor [vibe] amongst the band,” Murdoch says. “But, for us, there’s a feeling of wanting to involve everyone. It’s maybe not very rock-and-roll. Also, in a quiet, everyday way, it can be pretty exciting just to meet with a bunch of people.”
One song on How to Solve Our Human Problems hits much closer to home for Murdoch—the second EP’s single, “I’ll Be Your Pilot,” was composed after his wife challenged him to write a song about their first son.
“She said, ‘You never write songs about us. You’re always writing songs about these far-off, shadowy figures from your past, and all of these girls that you wish you’d dated,’” Murdoch laughs. “But it was easy to write. Especially during those days when I was on tour with the band, I would miss him so much.”
The track’s title and lyrics draw inspiration from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s iconic novella The Little Prince, in which a stranded pilot encounters a strange and wise young prince that inhabits his own tiny planet and tells the pilot of his various adventures. “So, in a sense, my boy is my little prince,” Murdoch says. “He didn’t say much, but he didn’t have to say much.”
Fatherhood is still a relatively new position for Murdoch, and he admits that it comes with its share of struggles, compounded by the life of a touring musician and, more uniquely, Murdoch’s long-standing battle with chronic fatigue syndrome.
“I don’t feel like the greatest dad,” he admits. “I mean, I love my kids, but on a practical level, I’m often working, dashing off to go on tour. I actually manage to keep up the work with the group because I do what I’ve always done: I’ve got my own office, and I go there regardless of what’s going on with the family—I’m pretty strict about it. Part of the thing that drives me there is that I actually don’t have the energy to keep up with the kids. The family life tires me out so much, because of my fatigue, so I end up escaping to my so-called office. Writing songs for me has always been an escape from everyday stuff, a consolation for the bad stuff that’s going on. Usually what I’m talking about is my health struggles, and that’s often the springboard from which I’m writing. Just to escape those emotions.”
Murdoch concedes that the last few years have been rough on his health, with the physical exertion that comes with raising (now two) children weighing on him daily, but his positive outlook on life—which partly comes from his acceptance and practice of Christianity and, more recently, Buddhism—still shines through. “I’m trying to find ways to respond to it,” he says. “I’m trying not to be too down about it. I think if you can really accept what’s going on, that’s the only way through this. Then perhaps you’ll come out mentally stronger.”
Of course, Murdoch’s adjustment to fatherhood is not the only stressor in his life, though the rigorous schedule of touring with Belle and Sebastian is at least something he’s had years to become accustomed to. “Every night [after the show], I have a minor collapse, and then, when I get home [from tour], I collapse a little bit more,” he says. “And then I get the flu or something like that. But I just roll with it. Life is as good as it could get. I feel so lucky to have played shows in such amazing places, so it’s all worth it. You get up for the show and give it your best, and nine out of 10 times, it’s a stimulating thing.”
There isn’t a known cure for chronic fatigue syndrome, a fact complicated by the various ways in which the condition expresses itself in different people. While Murdoch hopes that medical science can make some big strides in CFS research in the next couple decades, he turns to his own methods to deal with the affliction, including embracing Chinese medicinal methods and delving further into his faith.
“I’ve been exploring Buddhism in the last three years, and weirdly, I feel that it’s brought out my Christianity,” Murdoch says. “I just feel that they are two sides of the same coin, and the Buddhist philosophy is helping me to become a better Christian. Sometimes your worst struggles force you to think about spirituality and the wider picture. And there has to be a reason that happens. It’s a trumpet call, and you’ve got to respond in some way. How can you get better as a person, improve your life and improve the lives of other people?”
Nobody said keeping a band going for 20 years would be easy, and Murdoch’s unique situation is one that would cause many to slow down severely—if not quit altogether—but Belle and Sebastian is part of him, and the two have formed a symbiotic relationship that keeps them both going.
“It absolutely comes back to the music, and to the creativity—as long as you’re buzzing about the music,” Murdoch says, reflecting on what’s kept his band rolling all these years. “For me, the beautiful thing about the group is that, although my energy is quite limited, the band and the music has always been the thing—right back to 1996—that drew me out. It’s pulled me in the right direction—like a compass pointing to magnetic north—and my energy flows the best it possibly can.”
This article originally appears in the March 2018 of Relix. For more features, interviews, album reviews and more, subscribe here.
