Belle & Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch Presents God Help The Girl

Last year, Stuart made an open call for female singers (submissions required self-portraits, of course) to work on a new album and movie based on a story he wrote about a "better summer" featuring two girls and a guy. Murdoch's Scottish Idol search bore fruit, helping him discover and record Brittany Stallings (Olympia, Washington) and Dina Bankole (Jackson, Michigan), and yielding a winning audition from Limerick-native Catherine Ireton, who takes most of the lead vocals on the forthcoming God Help The Girl LP. The project's official site describes the sound as redolent of early B&S recordings while drawing on "musicals, sixties' girl groups, eighties' indie and, most of all, classic pop records." And Stu's psyched about Catherine: "In [her], Stuart has found a rare talent - her clear, lilting vocals bringing to life the characters in Stuart's imagination and making for an ambitious and engrossing musical journey." To be fair, he's been psyched about her before; she previously contributed vocals to Belle & Sebastian's "The White Collar Boy." Something got him going this time. Maybe it was her self-portrait.

The record features nine different singers (including Neil Hannon from the Divine Comedy and Asya from Smoosh), B&S members, and a 45-piece orchestra conducted by Withnail & I composer Rick Wentworth. You can hear the Catherine-fronted orchestral bubblegum of lead single "Come Monday Night" at MySpace, or download below, and hear Stuart talk up the project with this video primer:

God Help The Girl - "Come Monday Night" (MP3)

Tracklist and vocalist designation:
01 "Act of the Apostle" - Catherine Ireton
02 "God Help The Girl - Catherine
03 "Pretty Eve In The Tub" - Stuart, Catherine
04 "A Unified Theory" - Instrumental
05 "Hiding Neath My Umbrella" - Catherine, Stuart
06 "Funny Little Frog" - Brittany Stallings
07 "If You Could Speak" - Catherine, Anna Miles
08 "Musician Please Take Heed" - Catherine
09 "Perfection as a Hipster" - Neil Hannon, Catherine
10 "Come Monday Night" - Catherine
11 "Music Room Window" - instrumental
12 "I Just Want His Jeans" - Asya
13 "I'll Have To Dance With Cassie" - Catherine
14 "A Down and Dusky Blonde" - Dina Bankole, Catherine, Celia Garcia, Brittany, Asya

God Help The Girl is out in North American on 6/23 via Matador, the previous day in Europe via Rough Trade.

Posted at 3:06 PM by amrit in MP3, Video
Tags: Belle And Sebastian | Catherine Ireton | God Help The Girl | Stuart Murdoch

7 Comments

This may have potential. Since it's not a Belle and Sebastian record I won't be disappointed like so many times before...

Posted by: birdstheword at 04/02/09 3:32 PM  | Reply
Score = -5

This looks like its gonna be really good. And some those singers he picked for the project are cute.

Posted by: Robot Jones at 04/02/09 4:15 PM  | Reply
Score = 2

Yes, I agree. It does look promising.

Posted by: Mr_Blue_Angel_Dood at 04/02/09 5:09 PM  | Reply
Score = 0

nice self portrait!!

Posted by: Jake at 04/02/09 7:09 PM  | Reply
Score = 0

Has anyone ever seen Stuart Murdoch and Jack Rabid in the same place at the same time?

Posted by: Amstrell at 04/02/09 8:06 PM  | Reply
Score = 0

sveet!

Posted by: che at 04/02/09 8:18 PM  | Reply
Score = 0

I don't get it... the melody of the first song at the beginning of the video is so sweet yet i can't see it in the tracklist?

Posted by: rgr_moore at 04/03/09 10:39 AM  | Reply
Score = 0