Arab Strap albums can be easy to parody: a couple of rambling Scots blokes picking through the spicy refuse of the soul while guitars spiral and beats patter in the background.
You admire them from a distance for their willingness to peer into the pit. But Monday at the Hug and Pint clearly benefits from the time singer Aidan Moffatt and instrumentalist Malcolm Middleton have spent on solo projects, not to mention the input of Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes, and a string section.
It's their best record: the most concise, well-paced and most musical. There is still vitriol and degradation, particularly on the splenetic Fucking Little Bastards, but there is also humour, light and air, particularly in the lovely, soaring chorus of The Week Never Starts Around Here has a lovely, soaring chorus, and Loch Leven's exquisite folky strings.
Arab Strap remain in the gutter, but at the very least they're looking at the reflection of the stars.
