Belle & Sebastian (GB)

About

Also known as: Belle & Sebastian, Belle & Sebastien, Belle & Sebatian, Belle Adn Sebastian, Belle and Sebastien, Belle et Sébastien, ベル・アンド・セバスチャン

Few bands have built a mythology quite like Belle and Sebastian. The Glasgow group, led by the quietly visionary Stuart Murdoch, put out their debut album Tigermilk in 1996 on a college label with only a thousand vinyl copies pressed, and somehow that scarcity felt entirely appropriate. Their second album, If You're Feeling Sinister, is widely considered their masterpiece and landed on Spin's list of the 100 greatest albums between 1985 and 2005. Early on, the band famously refused to give interviews or appear in press photos, sending friends along instead, which only made people more curious. Over twelve studio albums, their sound has shifted across indie pop, chamber pop, baroque pop and even synth pop, but a certain wistful, literary quality runs through all of it. Their music has turned up in films like High Fidelity and Juno, and their 1999 Brit Award for Best Newcomer, beating out pop acts like Steps, remains one of those wonderfully unlikely moments in awards history. Whether you know them from Lazy Line Painter Jane or the poppier later records, there is always something just below the surface worth digging into.