Arab Strap - Philophobia 2LP

Philophobia, Arab Strap's sophomore slam dunk released in the spring of 1998, begins with one of the most memorable opening lines in all of indie rock: "It was the biggest cock you'd ever seen, but you've no idea where that cock has been." So begins an album that, while picking up thematically where the duo's debut album The Week Never Starts Round Here left off, promises from it's very first seconds a renewed sense of purpose: the narratives are more streamlined, the music more confident and mature. Gone are the sketches and doodles that unquestionably distinguished 1996's The Week Never Starts Round Here as the work of first timers, replaced with a consistent, almost conceptual, musical framework. On Philophobia, singer and lyricist Aidan Moffat's realism is more profane, gritty and poignant, while multi-instrumentalist Malcolm Middleton's honeyed orchestrations increasingly provide clinics in subtlety and restraint.