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A Bit of Previous
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A Bit of Previous Image
Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 6 Ratings

  • Summary: The latest full-length release for Scottish indie pop band Belle And Sebastian was self-produced and features contributions from Kevin Burleigh, Shawn Everett, Brian McNeil, and Matt Wiggins.
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  • Record Label: Matador
  • Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Indie Pop, Alternative Singer/Songwriter, Chamber Pop, Twee Pop
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. American Songwriter
    May 16, 2022
    80
    “If They’re Shooting at You,” “Deathbed of my Dreams,” “Do It for Your Country” and “Prophets On Hold” manifest as engaging and affecting ballads, sweetly suggestive and instantly engaging.
  2. New Musical Express (NME)
    May 5, 2022
    80
    All of the well-worn Belle and Sebastian hallmarks are present, but what’s truly impassive is how effortless it all sounds this time around.
  3. AllMusic
    May 2, 2022
    80
    It's in the album's unlikely combination of weighty sentiments and cheerful (if especially diverse) sounds that Belle and Sebastian grow, offering up an honest assessment of what getting older feels like when you're one of the world's best indie pop bands.
  4. DIY Magazine
    May 6, 2022
    80
    ‘A Bit of Previous’ remains an enjoyably sunny listen, even if one frequently inflected with melancholy.
  5. Exclaim
    May 3, 2022
    70
    Belle and Sebastian aren't making a grand statement here; rather, more than seven years on from their last proper LP (2015's Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance), B&S are honing in on some of their signature styles and making an album that sounds quintessentially like themselves.
  6. Rolling Stone
    Jun 8, 2022
    70
    They're still great at delivery wry prettiness. [Jun 2022, p.74]
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  7. PopMatters
    May 2, 2022
    60
    A Bit of Previous explores a candid, though less thoughtful, space in which guitarist Stevie Jackson’s Neil Diamond pastiche (“Deathbed of My Dreams”) is happy to sit alongside a congregational ode to Ukraine (“If They’re Shooting at You”) and a Huey Lewis-esque synth bop (“Talk to Me Talk to Me”).

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