Lazy Line Painter Jane (2008)

In an oeuvre that reads like a thesis on indie-rock semiotics, fey Scots Belle and Sebastian balance pathos and pop self-consciousness miraculously — tearing from one eye, winking with the other. The three EPs comprising Lazy Line Painter Jane, released in the U.K. in '97, are the group at its best: nicking Velvet Underground melodies; confessing to stuffed animals; namechecking Elvis, Judy Blume, and a couple named Belle and Sebastian. Nowadays, about as true as musical heartrending gets. A

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