This album began as a soundtrack to the Todd Solondz movie Storytelling. The marriage of Belle & Sebastian with the creator of the geek-revenge movie Welcome To The Dollhouse seemed to make sense but only about six minutes of the music actually made it into the movie. The band developed what was left, and this is the result.

In a tight 35 minutes, Storytelling is an eclectic mix of new songs and instrumentals, intermingled with unfortunate dialogue segments from the movie.

The instrumental score is largely composed of variations on a theme, based on the meandering piano loops and soaring strings of ‘Fiction’. The melody is heard again on ‘Freak’, Night Walk’ and ‘Fiction’ (Reprise).

Different instruments are used throughout to convey divergent moods, with horn and strings on ‘Consuelo’, and whimsical harmonica and cheesy strings on ‘Fuck This Shit’.

The catchy title track is in a pop vein, with flute, horns and piano; funky riffs give ‘Big John Shaft’ a cinematic feel with Stuart Murdoch bemoaning the lot of the typecast actor “I won’t play another heavyweight / I won’t play another Big John Shaft”.

Overall, Storytelling is not very cohesive, but it does have its moments.

A kooky, mostly enjoyable listen.