November 30, 2005
The Last Romance
From a review at Pitchforkmedia who rated it an 8:
Throughout The Last Romance, Arab Strap’s more familiar lyrical themes are thankfully bolstered by their boldest and most assured music to date, as they build confidently on the advances made on 2003’s Monday at the Hug & Pint. Gone entirely are their once-frequent plunky drum machines, replaced by a skillfully balanced array of piano, strings, and horns. And though as a vocalist Moffat remains his curmudgeonly limited self, never before have his vocals been so thoughtfully integrated into Middleton’s arrangements…