Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert – Here Lies the Body
RM Hubbert and Arab Strap's Aidan Moffat team up – with some formidable help from Siobhan Wilson – for an unpredictable and diverse new album
It’s a wonder it’s taken six years since 2012’s Car Song for RM Hubbert and Arab Strap’s Aidan Moffat to work together again. As Cockcrow opens their debut collaborative LP Here Lies the Body (a dual nod to permeating themes of sex and death), Hubbert’s familiar percussive guitar style effortlessly underpins Moffat’s equally recognisable drawl. But from the moment the sweetness of Siobhan Wilson’s vocals begin to dissolve into the mixture, it’s clear we’re entering entirely new territory.
As we continue through the course of the album’s journey, sax, synths, 808 beats and sweeping strings weave in and out of Hubbert’s beguiling arrangements to create unpredictable textures and soundtracks to the ever-turning pages of Moffat’s stories – inspired by an article about the taboo of women abandoning their families.
At times, Moffat's own surprisingly melodic vocals meld together with Wilson’s perfectly to create swooning back-ups to some of his finest – and funniest – lines yet ('She’s a bombshell in leggings / A Goddess in jeggings / But she’s best when they’re on the floor') as he guides us through subjects as diverse yet bizarrely interconnected as the multiverse, campfires, hen parties and fortune telling. The wit and wisdom of Moffat is about as sharp as ever here and ‘Hubby’ is clearly at the top of his game.
Listen to: Cockcrow, Mz. Locum, Zoltar Speaks