Often in the past, Arab Strap gigs have been either compulsive, drunken tragi-comedies or incredibly understated, confessional affairs. These crumpled visionaries from Falkirk, now on their fourth album, could always be relied upon for a certain pathos, but not necessarily for a good show.
As Aidan Moffat leads his troops on to the strains of the Sex Pistols, however, possibly lubricated but defiantly vertical, it's clear there's an unusual kind of purpose - focus, even - to Arab Strap tonight. Over the past few years, the burly, bearded and frequently abusive Moffat has revealed himself to be an unlikely romantic, muttering love songs that, in their honesty and intense detailing, harbour much dirty realism.
But whereas the music has been subtle, minimal, sometimes barely noticeable before, it's a newly loud and confident band that follow him on. Instead of a steady diet of dirge, there's the punchy, high-stepping soul of recent single 'Love Detective', a revitalised take on the classic R&B conceit of a love betrayed.
Most of the set comes from new album, 'The Red Thread', out this week on Chemikal Underground; the label the band returned to after a disastrous and mercifully short flirtation with a major. It's their best collection of songs yet, epitomised by the pounding encore of 'Turbulence', a superb recreation of New Order's disco for dysfunctionals.
There are still old pleasures here, notably the unlikely crowd singalong of 'Packet Of Three' (from 1998's 'Philophobia') with its endlessly amusing first line, "It was the biggest cock you'd ever seen." That's typical of Moffat. It's the way he anatomises sex and relationships, chiefly his own, and the way he pitilessly highlights his own self-pity with such brutal wit, so much so he becomes reminiscent of a young and rancorous Leonard Cohen. It's remarkably gruff candour, but as he meditates on the depth of his feelings for his girlfriend in 'The Long Sea', he leaves you speculating in horror about the personal details he feels are too private to put in song. These, in the end, are the real songs for the lovers - whether the lovers like it or not.
