From not-so-sunny Scotland, Arab Strap have recently released 'As Days Get Dark', a pivotal moment in the duo's piecemeal 26-year history – because it's the first album they've put out in a flooring 16 years.
"The response to all the singles has been great," one half of the group, Malcolm Middleton says."It’s a good time to release a record, conversely. I think a lot of people are engaged with recording music again and they're spending more money on it.
"I just wish we had some gigs to play; that's the exciting part, but we have some gigs booked for September, so hopefully that happens. Touch wood."
There's a bittersweetness to this album, according to Arab Strap who wrote it with their live band in mind. "We made it just the two of us – [but] we have a brilliant live band that we cannot wait to play with.
"We knew when we made the record, they'd do a great job playing these songs. Aye, we're all just desperate to play!"
Of course, this being the first album Arab Strap have released since their reformation after a ten-year hiatus (reforming in 2016), that time apart, working independently on other projects, means a refreshing cultivation of new ideas in this new insertion into their collaborative discography.
"We've both been busy over the last 15 years," says the other half of the band, Aidan Moffat.
"Solo projects, collaborations and stuff. We've both advanced more; we've learnt more about the recording process, writing music.
"I know I've been up and down about it, I've had some good times writing stuff, I've had some bits where I just couldn't be bothered anymore.
"Coming back to this band which we both stepped away from when we were younger, for the right reasons – like it wasn't so much a hiatus as a permanent split.
"The same day we split up, I joked that we were going to reform in ten year's time to celebrate being separated. And we did that in 2016. It was a time to look back and appreciate the songs."
It was that occasion that led Arab Strap to the idea of recording something new.
The pair admit to some of their past releases being "scrappy" and "all over the place", but in the case of 'As Days Get Dark', this time they're more focused on the sounds they are after and the styles they wanted to execute.
"It was good to have the break," Aidan says. "We've been energised by the gap, and it's good to work together again."
The album itself carries, for the most part, a dark sensuality; apt, given the title. In dubbing previous releases as "scrappy", Malcolm agrees that a conscious element of creative clarity has certainly surfaced in the production and the song writing on 'As Days Get Dark'.
"I think so, aye. When we formed to do the gigs, we had to pick a set list and found the ones we chose were the more electronic ones, the drum machine-led ones – I think that informed the sound in this record. There's a lot more samples, synths and drum machines than there were before.
"Because we've been away so long, having these tools now, they're much more available to us now than they were back then, so it's much easier to get the sounds you want today than back then."
'As Days Get Dark' is available now.
