Aidan John Moffat - I Can Hear Your Heart

Ten Years of Tears rang out Arab Strap's final kiss-off to a fervent fan-base in 2006 but it seems Aidan Moffat still has some maudlin tales of drunken sex trysts to get off his chest. I Can Hear Your Heart collects poems, musings and a ten minute spoken-word denouement into what is billed as a 'semi-autobiographical' dissection of the psyche of the modern-day man-boy. Oh, and ned-baiting phone pranks for good measure. Amongst the conceit and juvenility there are some heart-wrenching moments, not least at the utterance of the albums title, innocently whispered to our cheating protagonist on Good Morning. The incidental music is, on the whole, beautiful stuff, from wistful Spanish horns to medieval folk, an exotic flavour to particularly sordid home-grown tales. There's a question mark over its longevity but for fans of the 'Strap - and really, who else is going to buy this - it's like a date with an old flame. [Darren Carle]