Arab Strap – Half-Told Tales

Arab Strap were full of middle-aged malaise from day one, at least spiritually. Now, 30 years on they've grown into the curmudgeons they were always destined to be, but their ninth album is just as funny and insightful as ever, as the grinding minutiae of life's banality is contrasted with touching messages of hope and contentment.

Many of these songs are more or less an inventory of gripes on a given theme: internet slop, physical decrepitude, the manosphere etc. All backed with varied arrangements, like the no-wave skronk of Dollar Park, the old-school thrash finale on You You You or the industrial jazz-rock bombast of I Get Noise. It's a rich musical abyss for Aidan Moffat to shout into.

But while the one-liners and pop culture references are always cracking, it's Moffat's sentimental side that brings out the best in the band. Sunsong is an unexpected ode to the light from a self-confessed shadow dweller, and Be A Man is a beautifully touching reflection on fatherhood and wanting the best for your kids (it ends with a cheesy sax solo before things get too maudlin).

Half-Told Tales is a long and chaotic album, appropriately loose in structure, but its big heart will creep up on you. It ends with Beats Per Minute, a seemingly perfunctory list of time-related facts, but Moffat links it back to bittersweet feelings for his family, concluding: 'We only have this moment / And it's already gone'. Not sure how many albums that talk about scrotal lifts might have you weepy by the end.

Listen to: Be a Man, Dollar Park