Arab Strap

Growing up together in the Scottish town of Falkirk, vocalist/drummer Aidan Moffat and multi-instrumentalist Malcolm Middleton shared a deep affection for outsider indie rock. Forming Arab Strap in 1995, the pair put their own DIY stamp on the subgenre, finding close peers in Glasgow acts like Mogwai and The Delgados. Soon, Moffat was mumbling spoken-word accounts of excessive drinking and romantic disappointment over spindly, lo-fi post-rock on 1996’s The Week Never Starts Round Here. Subsequent releases saw the pair’s bleak confessionals and bristling instrumentation develop increasing clarity and purpose, culminating in 2005’s especially mood-swinging The Last Romance. After parting ways in favor of solo pursuits in 2006, Moffat and Middleton reconvened for 2021’s more layered and cinematic As Days Get Dark. The album opens with Moffat growling, “I don’t give a f**k about the past,” a quietly seething reintroduction to Arab Strap’s dark heart.