Arab Strap are the Scottish indie rockers who time forgot. Formed in sometime in the mid-1990s, reformed in 2016 after a 10-year hiatus, and intermittently but definitively performing music ever since, they had not appeared in Nottingham for almost two decades. That changed this month, and LeftLion's Michael Prince was on hand to document the show...
It's taken them years to return, some 19 years apparently.
Older. Different hair colour.
"I had brown hair then. Any wiser?” says Aidan Moffat, the band's vocalist.
Arab Strap are one of those bands that defy definition, but I'll try and give you an insight. They're there for people, who like them, don't really belong. Falling, nay, sliding between the cracks; falling would suggest effort.
Arab Strap are on the surface the droning antithesis of effort. The music being almost robotic, mechanical, Malcolm providing that bleakness, repetition that characterises bands such as Prolapse and Mogwai and yet is a beautiful harking back to the memories of fifties ballrooms and gentle ballads, through a cracked mirror. The lyrics: the intoxicated slumber of looking back over a life, old in their twenties, old now. Somewhat like the vignettes of Advance Base / Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. Their outlook, nostalgic in a seemingly pathetically depressing way.
With an interaction with the audience Aidan says, "All my songs in the 90s were about shagging or losing a girl."
This is lounge music, if that lounge was a seedy side alley bar, where the wrong look could end up terminal. Strong on the history of spoken word in what first appears dull, monotone and depressing, Arab Strap mirror the wide rivers of the Central basins of Scotland, the incessant lapping of the waves on muddy estuaries or bitingly sharp rocky beaches.
All the incisiveness of Ivor Cutler, the glory of spoken words, the soft bitterness of the accent and refusal to comply, these songs are of a time looking back on better times that never materialised. The escape was the music. I see people dancing tonight, in a trance still, reliving those days from 30 years ago. Beautiful, but mournful tales of loss.
I doubt I really appreciated Arab Strap before, but my friends were right. They're proof that immense joy can come forth from such darkness. I had intended to reacquaint myself with some Arab Strap songs before the gig but never got around to it. Busy day. Completely appropriate.
Afterwards I was reminded of Aidan's voice. Instantly recognisable, personally highlighting his contributions to The Ballads of the Book compilation or the music that hung in the background of my student years. This is humanity, laid bare in the glare of youth and the wisdom of age. Their T-shirt merch said it all: "I don't give a f***".
Arab Strap are supported by local legend Stuart Pearce, who as ever gave an energetic tour de force, heads held high and hearts on sleeves. They believe in others and being on the correct side of history. Comrades in arms for sure.
Arab Strap performed at Rescue Rooms on 16th August 2025.
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