The Week Never Starts Round Here

The first full-length by Scottish miserabilists Arab Strap is a dark-toned collection of acoustic guitars, hushed vocals, occasional electronics (mostly tape loops and vague trip-hop beats), lo-fi aesthetics and nakedly personal lyrics. Singer Aidan Moffat sounds so genuinely aggrieved on songs like "General Plea To A Girlfriend," "Deeper" and the self-lacerating "Kate Moss" that paying close attention to the lyrics makes the listener vaguely uncomfortable, as if they're inadvertently eavesdropping on an emotional conversation at the next table. Later albums like Philophobia were more focused and melodically stronger-and if anything, even darker--but in its own scattershot way, The Week Never Starts Around Here is a more powerful record. Fans of Joy Division and Palace may find Arab Strap a worthy successor to those mope-rock giants.