Arab Strap Launch New Album Half-Told Tales With Acerbic Single "You You You"

Arab Strap return with Half-Told Tales on September 4 via Rock Action. The accompanying single “You You You” features a video directed by Luke Bovill. The release continues the duo’s tradition of sharp, profane couplets ranging from grotesque imagery to self-incrimination about streaming and funding weapons-grade AI. The lyrics also include righteous anger toward abhorrent behavior and demagogues. Moffat frames the track as a disco-metal incantation carrying a message of future felicity and fellowship, aimed at dancing and giggling despite everyday worries. Those worries include rising costs, health concerns, violent newsfeeds, participation in the military-industrial complex, and distorted reality. A European tour is scheduled later in the year, including Dublin, Manchester, and London.

"The single, in the age-old Arab Strap tradition, includes a cascade of zesty couplets, from the Rabelaisian ("I've got watchlists I'll never watch/And pruritus scroti in my crotch") to the self-incriminating ("And if you're streaming this song on Spotify, then we both fund weapons-grade AI") and the righteously indignant ("Nobody pays for abhorrent behaviour/Fuck these demagogues cosplaying saviours")."

"Moffat describes the track in press materials as "a sort of disco-metal incantation, with a message of future felicity and fellowship that-fingers crossed-might make you dance and giggle too." He elaborates: "There are millions of us out there dealing with the same worries every day: from the rising costs of absolutely everything, our mental and physical health, the constant slaughter and tyranny in our newsfeeds, to playing an unwitting part in the military-industrial complex, and the endless warping of reality.""

"He elaborates: "It can often feel like a complete absence of human decency-it's no wonder that despondency can feel like our default disposition." The duo has also lined up a European tour at the tail end of the year. Find the dates below. Half-Told Tales:01 I Get Noise02 You You You03 Be a Man04 Fighting for You05 Glamour Magick06 Gape07 Under Offer08 Basic Physics09 Sunsong10 Dollar Park11 Mr. Splitfoot12 Ampersand13 Fragments14 Beats per Minute"

"Arab Strap are back, and in typically caustic form. The Scottish duo of Malcolm Middleton and Aidan Moffat will return with Half-Told Tales on September 4, via Rock Action. The song that accompanies the news, "You You You," comes with a fun video directed by Luke Bovill. Watch it below."

Read at Pitchfork