- Record Label: Matador
- Release Date: Jan 20, 2015
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Jan 7, 2015Belle & Sebastian--now much more of a unit than ever before--have found their stride, turning in one of the most satisfying, complete and cinematic albums of their 19-year career.
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Jan 15, 2015Murdoch's acute storytelling eye remains laser-focused.
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Jan 6, 2015Nine albums in Belle & Sebastian may have just achieved what many once thought impossible--they've reinvented themselves and perhaps in doing so, released one of the most important records of their career.
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Jan 20, 2015Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance is the purest expression of the big, bright sounds that have always been within the band, visions of Belle & Sebastian as Naked-era Talking Heads or an ABBA for 2015.
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Jan 20, 2015By reflecting on the personal issues that first inspired him, Murdoch has reminded his band what they’re made of and sparked a loving surprise: their most expansive, exquisite mission statement since 1998.
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Jan 20, 2015On this adventurous LP, the critically lauded Scottish sextet waits until track nine, "Ever Had a Little Faith?," to offer one of its patented gently strummed character studies.
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Jan 20, 2015It occasionally threatens to become a bit overwhelming and topple in on itself. Most of the time though, Murdoch and company keep things steadily focused, and the result is another accomplished record from one of this country’s most consistent bands.
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Jan 20, 2015Delivering this mix of melancholy and optimism with their trademark storytelling panache, the band have created a compelling and moving record, with Enter Sylvia Plath and The Party Line offering an unexpected Europop divergence from their roots.
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Jan 20, 2015This is the sound of a band that's growing fearless in middle age, and while the record occasionally does drag--all those long songs push it over an hour, but the sequencing makes it feel even longer--there's also a thrill hearing a band unafraid to stumble.
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Jan 15, 2015This album retains the group’s old sense of humour.
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Jan 14, 2015As Stuart Murdoch sings with literary precision about illness, isolation and striving for human connections, their digressions into club music and klezmer feel as restorative as they do celebratory.
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Jan 13, 2015It’s an excellent album by a band who seem to be permanently brimming with life and ideas, a glimmer of warmth to lighten the dark depths of winter.
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Jan 9, 2015This is comfortably the most sonically-pristine album that Belle & Sebastian have made.
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Q MagazineJan 7, 2015With the help of Animal Collective produce Ben H Allen, Girls in Peacetime busts the band out of a complacent rut by rendering them in full colour, as a pop group with depth of talent and breadth of vision. [Feb 2015, p.108]
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Alternative PressJan 6, 2015Scottish popsters Belle & Sebastian neatly embrace and critique the politics of dancing on their ninth studio album. [Feb 2015, p.90]
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UncutJan 6, 2015Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance feels like a creative rebirth for a band who were beginning to feel like nothing more than the day job. [Feb 2015, p.70]
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Jan 20, 2015Murdoch, Jackson and Martin treat lyrics as vehicles for dance-friendly expository narratives and snapshot moments.
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Jan 15, 2015Beneath its well-produced cacophony, Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance is an emotional and intelligently bruised work.
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Jan 22, 2015Belle and Sebastian's latest full-length succeeds in pointing out societal injustices with just enough sweetness to lighten the bitter frustration lurking within. And yet, at times the endless flutes, synths, and strings risk of giving the listener a cavity.
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Jan 20, 2015There’s enough here to please die-hard fans.
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Jan 20, 2015Although not every effort and experiment on Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance is a fully realized one, Belle and Sebastian’s attempt to take on new challenges represents something more important than just the results on the album.
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Jan 20, 2015Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance is the most overtly political B&S album to date. But Murdoch is still most interested in characters and how they react to the world rather than regurgitating liberal talking points, and he hasn't lost his satirical edge one bit over the years.
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Jan 20, 2015There are some obvious pitfalls to this newfound worldliness, and the second half of Girls in Peacetime is a bit of a mess.
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Jan 16, 2015Though it's far from perfect--the Balkan folk-inspired "The Everlasting Muse" and lounge-y "Perfect Couples" weigh the back half down just a little--Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance is a statement record that Belle and Sebastian are still expert songwriters, with more than a few musical cards left to play.
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Jan 15, 2015A very weird album, but a very intriguing one too.
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Jan 20, 2015Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance is far from the best Belle & Sebastian album, and it signals more a distraction for their sound than an evolution. Still, just as everything is with them, that distraction is both pleasant and polite.
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Jan 21, 2015It takes something else, something that can’t be explained by a mission statement. For a band so well-loved for writing from their heart, it sounds like they got stuck in their head.
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Under The RadarJan 6, 2015Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance may be one of Belle and Sebastian's most mixed offerings to date, but it will certainly provide you with enough eggs to stick around. [Nov/Dec 2014, p.62]
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MojoFeb 2, 2015Those who have stuck with the Glasgow act this far will find much to enjoy here. [Feb 2015, p.90]
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Jan 20, 2015Atlanta-based producer Ben H Allen (who has worked with Animal Collective and CeeLo Green) has beefed up their sound, although a taste for clean sonic lines and cheesy keyboards retains a power to grate.
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Jan 20, 2015Like many songs here, "The Party Line" pairs vaguely political lyrics with vaguely clubby music – an unusual combination for this band, and one that doesn't always work. Thankfully, there are also a handful of inventive standouts.
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Jan 14, 2015As a record, it lacks a coherent identity.
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Jan 12, 2015Since that reboot 12 years ago, they don’t really know what they want to be. So they try all things, and only succeed at some.
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Jan 20, 2015Even with its stunning, heartfelt moments, it’s hard to think of Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance as a cohesive Belle and Sebastian album. The band manages to blend their signature brand of subdued indie pop with new, bombastic disco cuts, but sometimes the disparity can be jarring.
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Jan 20, 2015In trying for everything, they’ve highlighted the disjointedness of the end product, turning a fully-fledged transformation into an erratic collection of middling-to-great Belle & Sebastian songs.
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Feb 4, 2015Unfortunately, Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance is the net effect of an effort that goes nowhere at all; and this deviation appears furtive, as if they're trying to hide their beloved quirks from an expanded audience.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 46 out of 55
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Mixed: 8 out of 55
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Negative: 1 out of 55
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Jan 20, 2015
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Sep 9, 2016
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Jul 24, 2015