Beautifully executed music videos wrapped inside of a disastrous framing device makes this a good film to watch on fast forward.
Emily Browning, Olly Alexander, and Hannah Murray.
Fans of Belle & Sebastian, such as myself, have been hearing about Stuart Murdoch’s film project, God Help the Girl, for several years. From a giant online competition to find female singers to sing some songs he had written for women to sing, to a well received album of these songs, and finally a full length film musical with the same songs, now sung by the actors who appear on screen. It’s an ambitious project, a long time in the making, and it comes close to being worth the wait.
Belle & Sebastian is not the kind of band that jumps out and grabs your attention, instead they plant a seed which needs time to grow. When my friend gave me the spectacular If Your Feeling Sinister in 1997 it was with the promise that I would listen to it at least five times in the background before I gave it my full attention. He was right; it haunted me, it seeped into my soul, and I loved it. So now I’ve spent two weeks with Belle & Sebastian Write about Love their newest effort, and I can’t say that same feeling of love and musical bliss has washed over me. Though I keep waiting and hoping it will. Continue reading “Album Review: Belle & Sebastian — Belle and Sebastian Write About Love”
God Help the Girl is supposed to be the soundtrack for a musical that has yet to be scripted and filmed. It is the brainchild of Stuart Murdoch from Belle & Sebastian. Murdoch said the project was born from material he couldn’t use for for Belle & Sebastian because the songs should be sung by three female characters. The outcome? A Belle & Sebastian record with female vocals and a light sprinkling of musical theater.
I first discovered God Help the Girl because of a message from a friend. “Stuart Murdoch is having an open call for singers! You should try out.” Upon further investigation I discovered it was true; if you logged into imeem.com you could download instrumental versions of two songs: a Belle & Sebastian favourite “Funny Little Frog” and a new song called “The Psychiatrist is In.” The instructions were to choose one and post it up on an imeem message board. I promptly downloaded the songs and started calling around to find someone to help me record them. In the end my friend Cynthia and I, with the help of her husband Russell, spent a fun weekend recording and submitting the songs. Then the obsession really began. I listened to everyone’s entry and made lists of favourites. Weeks later three finalists for each song were chosen to submit a second song (Cynthia and I did not make the cut; we were robbed!) and when the winners were announced I at least took solace in the fact that one of the winners,Brittany Stallings, had been my favourite singer.
I was excited to hear the final product after so much time and obsession, but I was bound to be overly critical of the singing.
