Glasgow indie institution Belle and Sebastian are gearing up to release their first full-length album in seven years, A Bit of Previous, out May 6 on Matador. Last month, they shared two singles from the record, “Unnecessary Drama” and “If They’re Shooting At You,” and now, they’ve shared a third single, “Young and Stupid.” The song arrives with a lyric video that doubles as a slideshow of a collective family photo album, featuring a selection of the band members’ childhood pictures compiled by Fiona Morrison and edited together by Sabrina Nichols.
As the title and that video premise suggest, the track reminisces on the band’s early days, looking back as they prepare to enter their third decade together. “There’s an easy start to things / There’s the thrill that beauty brings / Glued together at the hips / Stuck together at the lips,” frontman Stuart Murdoch muses about his youth over bouncy acoustic guitars and a resonant string line before the song unfolds into an airy bridge of voices that recall a children’s choir. The track feels like the band’s “In My Life,” serving as a fond look back at successes and regrets before they all move forward for good.
“We did it together, us and the city,” Murdoch said of the recording process for A Bit of Previous in a statement. “This record was the first ‘full’ LP recording for B&S in Glasgow since Fold Your Hands Child, 1999. We clocked in every morning, we played our songs, we wrote together, we tried new things, we took the proverbial lump of clay, and we threw it every day.”
Once the album comes out, Belle and Sebastian are heading out on tour this spring and summer, starting with a string of American dates that begin on May 24 in Asheville, North Carolina, and wrap up in Boston on June 18. After some further summer festival dates in Spain and the U.K., the band will kick off a full U.K. tour in the fall, beginning in Cardiff on Nov. 13. They’ve also just announced a European tour planned for January 2023.
Check out the lyric video for “Young and Stupid” below, and keep scrolling to see the list of Belle and Sebastian’s new European tour dates. You can pre-order A Bit of Previous here.
Belle and Sebastian 2023 Tour Dates:
January
10 – Paris, FR @ Casino de Paris
11 – Utrecht, NL @ Tivoli Grote Zaal
13 – Luxembourg City, LU @ den Atelier
14 – Hamburg, DE @ Laeiszhalle
16 – Gothenburg, SE @ Tradgarn
17 – Stockholm, SE @ Filadelfia
18 – Oslo, NO @ Sentrum Scene
19 – Copenhagen, DK @ Vega
21 – Berlin, DE @ Tempodrom
22 – Munich, DE @ Muffathalle
23 – Zurich, CH @ X-tra Limmathaus
25 – Clermont-Ferrand, FR @ Co-op de Mai
26 – Milan, IT @ Fabrique
