When Belle and Sebastian released A Bit of Previous in May, they didn’t let on that they’d recorded a second new album at the same time. Whereas last year’s effort was a little underwhelming, Late Developers – released with little in the way of fanfare – is far more pleasing, displaying a lightness of touch and genuine pop nous.
Opener Juliet Naked recalls a more tuneful early Billy Bragg in its stripped-back urgency; Will I Tell You a Secret is the sort of gentle whimsy that Donovan made his own in the late 1960s. When We Were Very Young, with its yearning lyric “I wish I could be content with the football scores/ I wish I could be content with the daily chores”, is kitchen-sink drama redux, while So in the Moment is joyously irresistible.
However, things come a little unstuck on the new single, I Don’t Know What You See in Me, its ecstatic synthpop falling the wrong side of that fine line between enjoyable and cloying. Still, Late Developers marks a real return to form, and is the band’s most rewarding album since 2006’s The Life Pursuit.
