Up A Tree

Stuart David, bassist from Belle ... Sebastian, gets his chance to shine with Looper, his latest project, and belies the oft- held notion that bass players are also rans in the creative department: just given the notes and told what to do. Up A Tree sees David displaying enough invention and imagination for a Brazilian football coach, without the attendant histrionics.

Much of this album owes a debt to the spoken word antics of 'The Gift' from The Velvets, but where 'The Gift' was a blackly comic Welsh baritone, Looper's spoken lyrics were created in the romantic Scottish highlands. Take 'Impossible Things #2', which tells the tale of a seven-year pen- friendship which blossoms into love's young dream over a groove-laden backing track. Or 'Festival '95', where David asserts that "Some days are good/They're like an adventure" while the funked-up bass drives the tale inexorably onwards.

Current single, 'The Ballad of Ray Suzuki' is anything but a ballad, the bass being joined by a fuck-off breakbeat that cries out for the dancefloor.

Conversely, 'Burning Flies', a melting pot of beats, bass, samples, scratches and vocals, follows a more conventional song structure, as does the stunningly simple 'Quiet And Small', a gentle guitar ballad.

Up A Tree is a highly unusual album, as we enter, albeit briefly, the dreamlike world of Stuart David: sometimes whimsical ('Columbo's Car'), sometimes bizarre ('Dave The Moon Man') but always entertaining. 'Up A Tree Again' in particular seems almost to drift in and out of consciousness over the course of its four minute duration.

This is an album that cannot be overanalysed. You have to just let the rhythms and melodies, not to mention the engrossing stories, wash over you and enjoy the trip. If you fancy some aural daydreaming, then Looper may just be the perfect vehicle for your needs. Climb on board.