"Because life is never dull in your dreams"

To be frightfully honest, as honesty often is, part of charm of Belle and Sebastian's first album Tigermilk had been the impracticality of it all. Only one thousand lp's were pressed as part of a university project, and later, if one could even find a copy it was being sold for amounts more than any record is worth. The band of an ex-boxer that met in an all night cafe in Glasgow, named Belle and Sebastian, despite having seven members with a cellist named Isobel--from the beginning the band had a full history, complete with not quite truths. Besides, the truth is never as interesting and lie seems like such a harsh word. Not properly rereleasing Tigermilk would not have been out of character for a band that refused to pose in any photos originally. Each listen to a cassette dub of the album was a mildly dangerous proposition--the tape could snap, and each listen brought the tape closer to an end. At one point it would just have to end. The two people that sent me tapes of Tigermilk later fell in love with each other.

"There must be a reason for all those looks we gave"

The rerelease of the album seemed like it would be a great shining pop moment. But as these things usually turn out, it felt a bit of a letdown. Tigermilk in its proper release on whatever format is still the same album as before. Perhaps I was expecting too much. At least no one has to worry about cassettes snapping; anyone can walk into a record shop and purchase a copy.

"If you had such a dream, would you get up and do the things you've been dreaming?"

I first listened to Tigermilk laying on a bed in a room in central London during autumn. When the album was rereleased I was living in a flat in Paris for the summer. Being a stranger in a country is rather like the characters on the album; both wander through the day wondering how things became so complicated lately, and wondering if it can get any better. Feeling your way through the day itself, every morning with such expectations and every evening with such resignation. You can deny it all like Holden Caulfield: "I Don't Love Anyone". But there are parts to life that just can not be avoided. As you age and the mind more properly fits the body, you realize that you do have control over your own life. As I fell in love for the first time I listened to Tigermilk.

"My wandering days are over"

Fans voted the band to win a Brit Award for new act. It seemed a proper way for the band to win since most of the early fame was spread by word of mouth and tape to hand of that first album. Next year the award will undoubtably go to a group much more popular and known to the public at large. Happening once does not make up a movement--just a moment. However, it was worth it to see the presenters looking dumb and confused after the award was announced and the general absurdity of it all. So with a nod to all the disaffected, Belle and Sebastian became front page headline news. I do wear my badge proudly, as a display of public solidarity.

"Monochrome in the 1990's, you go disco and I'll go my way"