''Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant'' is the fourth album from the Scottish group
Belle & Sebastian
Belle and Sebastian are a Scottish indie pop band formed in Glasgow in 1996. Led by Stuart Murdoch, the band has released eleven albums. They are often compared with acts such as The Smiths and Nick Drake. The name "Belle and Sebastian" comes ...
released in 2000.
Recording and production
Stuart Murdoch recalled that this album felt more difficult to make than prior albums. Musically the songs were more complex and "demanded a pop precision that you just couldn’t skirt around" requiring the group to practice and refine things more than they had traditionally.
The band introduced many stylistic changes on this album, such as an organic
strings
String or strings may refer to:
*String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...
section and more songs with lead vocals by other members of the band;
Sarah Martin sings on "Waiting for the Moon to Rise",
Isobel Campbell
Isobel Campbell (born 27 April 1976) is a Scottish singer, songwriter and cellist. She rose to prominence at age nineteen as a member of the indie pop band Belle & Sebastian, but left the group to pursue a solo career, first as The Gentle Waves ...
sings on "Family Tree", and performs duets with
Stevie Jackson
Stephen Jackson (born 16 January 1969) is a Scottish musician and songwriter. He plays lead guitar and sings in the Glasgow-based indie band Belle and Sebastian.
Career
Jackson's early musical influences include Madness, ABBA, Orchestral Ma ...
on "Beyond the Sunrise" and
Stuart Murdoch on "Women's Realm". Jackson also sings lead vocal on "The Wrong Girl" and duets with Murdoch on "The Model" and "Don't Leave the Light On Baby". It is the last Belle & Sebastian album to feature bass player Stuart David, who departed the band after the album's completion.
The twin sisters pictured on the cover are
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
ic musicians
Gyða and
Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir
Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir (born 5 January 1982), also known as Kría Brekkan, is an Icelandic vocalist and classically trained multi-instrumentalist. She is best known as a former frontwoman of múm, and later on for collaborating with former ...
, both from the band
Múm
Múm (stylized in lowercase) () is an Icelandic indietronica band whose music is characterized by soft vocals, electronic glitch beats and effects, and a variety of traditional and unconventional instruments.
History
The band was formed in 1 ...
.
The album's title comes from a piece of graffiti on a public toilet wall Stuart Murdoch had seen years earlier and remembered.
Reception
The album was released to generally favourable reviews.
''Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant'' debuted at No. 80 on The ''Billboard'' 200 and has sold 113,000 copies in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album's introductory tune, "I Fought in a War" was used for the final credits for the widely acclaimed 2005 documentary about the
Military Industrial Complex
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
and 11 September ''
Why We Fight
''Why We Fight'' is a series of seven propaganda films produced by the US Department of War from 1942 to 1945, during World War II. It was originally written for American soldiers to help them understand why the United States was involved in th ...
''.
The book
Within the album's photography collection are pictures of two books, ''Beyond the Sunrise'' and ''I Fought in a War''. Both books are titles of songs on the album, but the books are fictional creations of Murdoch's. Due to the band's interest in
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
, fans have tried to locate the books that they believed had "inspired" the songs. Belle & Sebastian have informed fans about the fictive nature of the books on the "Questions and Answers" section of their website.
Track listing
Charts
References
External links
Album information on belleandsebastian.com(official site) – lyrics, sleeve notes.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant
2000 albums
Belle and Sebastian albums
Jeepster Records albums