Arab Strap Tickets

Arab Strap's new album Half-Told Tales, the group's ninth, will arrive almost three decades to the day since their first single was released. "We're thirty years old this year," says the duo, "So we decided to celebrate by doing what we enjoy most: by making new music."

The band have never sounded more relevant on the state-of-affairs lead single 'You You You', a track that bubbles to life sounding like some long-lost killer Italo disco record – with Moffat's vocal refrain of the song's title creating one of the most outright melodically infectious songs the band have ever made – and that's before Malcolm Middleton's punchy and spiralling guitar lines burst through it. The result is something that feels like an entirely new genre. "A sort of disco-metal incantation," suggests Moffat. "With a message of future felicity and fellowship that – fingers crossed – might make you dance and giggle too." 

Lyrically, the song is emblematic of some of the themes on the album. "'You You You' is an attempt to remind ourselves, and hopefully others, that the world's not full of awful people," says Moffat. "That there are millions of us out there dealing with the same worries every day: from the rising costs of absolutely everything, our mental and physical health, the constant slaughter and tyranny in our newsfeeds, to playing an unwitting part in the military-industrial complex, and the endless warping of reality. It can often feel like a complete absence of human decency – it's no wonder that despondency can feel like our default disposition." However, while the song digs into these troubles and tumultuous times, it does so with a purpose. "It was designed as a kind of invocation," says Moffat. "To bring forth the stubbornly elusive spirits of hope and solidarity." 

The push-pull dynamic that exists in such songs – where grooving, fluid beats nestle up against rip-roaring guitars – is reflective of the back and forth approach the band have during the songwriting process. "The excitement comes because me and Aidan like and hate different things," says Middleton. "There are things in the record that individually we might not choose but that's why I like this album so much, because it's not the one I wanted to make. I don't think it's what Aidan wanted to make either, it's this bit in the middle. It might not be 100% what we want but it's good for the band, and it works."