5:14 Fluoxytine Seagull Alcoho

This guy is a Sadly Drawn Boy. The theme is depression; and the execution of the misery is superb. Middleton is half of Arab Strap, and indeed he doesn’t stray much from the known format. With simple yet achingly heartbreaking lyrics such as “I think I need professional help to get better” (track 5), and beautiful tunes to match it, this is real sadcore pop.
Play: 5, 8, 10 (more upbeat), 12 (despite ‘shit’ FCC) and 1 (‘fuck up’ FCC).

1.FCC (“I’ll fuck it up”) . Acoustic, piano, soft drums, clown song.
2.FCC (“fuck up”) Uptempo, Wilco-like track.
3.A hint of traditional Scottish arrangement (inevitable fiddle). Mid/high temp.
4.Slow/mid tempo. Long track (7:30), almost Loose-Fur repetitive. Starts with only acoustic guitar and drums; electric guitar and violin join.
5.Slow, sad acoustic guitar love/breakup song (as you can tell by the track name).
6.Short pre-prise (to track 11?)
7.FCC? the sticker on the original cover claims so. Mid tempo, female background vocals throughout.
8.Another prime heartbreaker. Piano-only ballad, John Cale style. Studio noises at the beginning (7 seconds) and end (20 seconds) of the track.
9.Mid tempo, Guitar picking, love song.
10.Upbeat, club-like beats almost a dance track except for the slower-tempo bridges.
11.7+ minute track, nice keyboard bridges, slow tempo, soft drumming, more sadcore. Louder in the last 1:30 mins. Last 20 secs very quiet.
12.FCC (“my songs are shit”) Devil-came-to-me song, acoustic picking and more sad self-reflections (“I’ll never amount to anything”).
13.Demo guitar version of track 8.
14.Demo guitar version of track 1. Slower, and still FCC.
15.Demo of 7.
16.Short, less harmonic, but with harmonica!