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Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance

Belle And Sebastian

Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance

Ninth LP from the renowned Glaswegian indie pop group led by Stuart Murdoch and produced by Ben H Allen (Animal Collective, Bombay Bicycle Club, Deerhunter)

ADM rating[?]

7.2

Label
Matador
UK Release date
19/01/2015
US Release date
20/01/2015
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  1. 8.5 |   The 405

    They've reinvented themselves and perhaps in doing so, released one of the most important records of their career
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  2. 8.5 |   Beardfood

    The most sincere and pleasant pop songs you'll hear all year
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  3. 8.3 |   A.V. Club

    Belle & Sebastian has never sounded more comfortable, or so much like itself, in such slick surroundings
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  4. 8.0 |   All Music

    This is the sound of a band that's growing fearless in middle age, and while the record occasionally does drag there's also a thrill hearing a band unafraid to stumble
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  5. 8.0 |   The Guardian

    Most importantly this album retains the group’s old sense of humour
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  6. 8.0 |   The Irish Times

    It’s still early days, but this could be the most perfect pop album you’ll hear in 2015
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  7. 8.0 |   The Independent

    Chalk this up as another win for the lit-pop faithful
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  8. 8.0 |   The FT

    Themes of ageing are to the fore, set to optimistically upbeat music that takes in disco anthems
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  9. 8.0 |   The Observer

    A compelling and moving record, with Enter Sylvia Plath and The Party Line offering an unexpected Europop divergence from their roots
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  10. 8.0 |   musicOMH

    Murdoch and company keep things steadily focused, and the result is another accomplished record from one of this country’s most consistent bands.
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  11. 8.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    One of the band’s finest achievements to date - exciting, experimental
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  12. 8.0 |   Q

    Their most vigorous and necessary album since 2003. Print edition only

  13. 8.0 |   The Skinny

    Lovingly crafted, laced with embellishment and detail, and it’s full of unexpected twists
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  14. 8.0 |   Time Out

    Some of the best stuff here is very much in the old-school B&S mould
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  15. 8.0 |   Uncut

    B&S’ most stylistically eclectic record made into something coherent and crunchily satisfying
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  16. 8.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    An excellent album by a band who seem to be permanently brimming with life and ideas, a glimmer of warmth to lighten the dark depths of winter
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  17. 8.0 |   The Arts Desk

    Melodic, witty, thematically and musically diverse, danceable and beard-strokeable in equal measure, it won’t start any revolutions
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  18. 8.0 |   NOW

    They project an easy confidence no matter how expansive or ambitious the arrangement
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  19. 8.0 |   God Is In The TV

    The only problem with this album is that whilst half of the record sounds like an Erasure and Friendly Fires hybrid, the other half is classic Belle and Seb
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  20. 8.0 |   FasterLouder

    A multi-faceted triumph that puts the wind back in Belle & Sebastian’s sails. It’s a comeback that looks to the future rather than the past, answering every familiar strength with a bold new one
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  21. 7.7 |   Earbuddy

    Continues the post-2003 penchant that B&S have developed for experimentation, but their work is still firmly grounded in classic pop melodies and kitchen sink dramas
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  22. 7.5 |   Pretty Much Amazing

    An emotional and intelligently bruised work, and that is probably why its dance-oriented numbers fail to hit all of their marks
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  23. 7.0 |   The Music

    Belle & Sebastian’s latest offers up a tapestry of sweet indie-pop, melancholy lullabies and ventures into the electronic jungle
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  24. 7.0 |   NME

    The whole album flicks between acoustic and electronic, beat-free and disco banger. It's so scatterbrained and camp, you can almost picture the band rifling through a dressing-up box in the studio
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  25. 7.0 |   Loud And Quiet

    What is clear is that somewhere within ‘…Peacetime…’ is Belle & Sebastian’s best album this century, as they rediscover the natural charm that so seduced the early adopters
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  26. 7.0 |   No Ripcord

    There’s enough here to please die-hard fans
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  27. 7.0 |   PopMatters

    Although not every effort and experiment on Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance is a fully realized one, Belle and Sebastian’s attempt to take on new challenges represents something more important than just the results on the album
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  28. 7.0 |   Slant Magazine

    The album's best songs fit more comfortably into the B&S canon of Beatles-indebted chamber-pop
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  29. 7.0 |   Exclaim

    A statement record that Belle and Sebastian are still expert songwriters, with more than a few musical cards left to play
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  30. 7.0 |   Tiny Mix Tapes

    You might not love disco or Europop or even all of the songs on Girls in Peacetime, but you can still feel that honest, gentle hope in each of them
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  31. 7.0 |   Spin

    Like so many albums before it, Belle and Sebastian's latest full-length succeeds in pointing out societal injustices with just enough sweetness to lighten the bitter frustration lurking within
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  32. 6.8 |   Paste Magazine

    Is far from the best Belle & Sebastian album, and it signals more a distraction for their sound than an evolution. Still, just as everything is with them, that distraction is both pleasant and polite
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  33. 6.6 |   Pitchfork

    For a band so well-loved for writing from their heart, it sounds like they got stuck in their head
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  34. 6.5 |   Under The Radar

    May be one of Belle and Sebastian's most mixed offerings to date, but it will certainly provide you with enough eggs to stick around
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  35. 6.0 |   DIY

    It’s exciting, but too all over the place to be one of their best
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  36. 6.0 |   Clash

    Since that reboot 12 years ago, they don’t really know what they want to be. So they try all things, and only succeed at some
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  37. 6.0 |   Crack

    Belle & Sebastian have always known how to write infectious and intelligent pop tunes, and while the florid dance stylings don’t detract from that, they don’t really bring much either
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  38. 6.0 |   Mojo

    There are diamonds to be mined within the rough of album number nine. Print edition only

  39. 6.0 |   Rolling Stone

    Stick it out to the last few tracks and you'll hear the band's familiar marvels in a bright new light
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  40. 6.0 |   The List

    The attempt to go off into a whole new territory is an admirable pursuit but here, it doesn’t quite sit right
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  41. 5.8 |   Consequence Of Sound

    The band manages to blend their signature brand of subdued indie pop with new, bombastic disco cuts, but sometimes the disparity can be jarring
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  42. 5.6 |   Sputnik Music (staff)

    In trying for everything, they’ve highlighted the disjointedness of the end product, turning a fully-fledged transformation into an erratic collection of middling-to-great Belle & Sebastian songs
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  43. 5.0 |   The Quietus

    They remain at their most engaging when speaking to you in softly, and if they can channel that intensity into the louder sections, their music would transform into a sound that fears nothing
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  44. 4.0 |   Evening Standard

    Murdoch’s songcraft remains strong — The Everlasting Muse is wonderful — but it’s not going to expand anyone’s world
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  45. Back to main chart

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Belle And Sebastian: Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance

  • Download full album for just £8.49
  • 1. Nobody's Empire £0.89
  • 2. Allie £0.89
  • 3. The Party Line £0.89
  • 4. The Power Of Three £0.89
  • 5. The Cat With The Cream £0.89
  • 6. Enter Sylvia Plath £0.89
  • 7. The Everlasting Muse £0.89
  • 8. Perfect Couples £0.89
  • 9. Ever Had A Little Faith? £0.89
  • 10. Play For Today £0.89
  • 11. The Book Of You £0.89
  • 12. Today (This Army's For Peace) £0.89
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The trio bring gorgeous vocals and spiky attitude to 90s-facing songs – but they need a little more of that era’s oddball invention, as well as an undeniable hit The Guardian

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A faithful homage to R&B's power Clash

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