''God Help the Girl'' is a 2009 album by Stuart Murdoch of the band

Belle and 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" come ...

with female vocalists such as Catherine Ireton. God Help the Girl is also the name of the band and the accompanying film released in 2014. The songs are about a Scottish girl who is hospitalized after a nervous breakdown. Two songs (''

Funny Little Frog "Funny Little Frog" is the first single released from Scottish indie pop band Belle & Sebastian's seventh studio album, ''The Life Pursuit'' (2006). The track was released in January 2006 on Rough Trade Records and was produced by Tony Hoffer. T ...

'' and ''Act of the Apostle'') were taken from the repertory of Belle and Sebastian.

Origin of the project

The author of the project ''God Help the Girl'' is Stuart Murdoch, lead singer of the

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

-based Scottish indie pop group

. In 2004, during a tour promoting their album '' Dear Catastrophe Waitress'', he came up with the idea of writing a series of songs telling about the life of girls and young women which could be sung not by his group but female vocalists. Thinking about this project, he started writing new songs which were shelved for the time being; after some time the idea of arranging them in a logical whole and making a film occurred to him. Looking for performers for his songs, Murdoch placed an advertisement in a local magazine in Glasgow in 2004. The first vocalists who joined the project were Celia García from

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland, who responded to the advertisement placed in the magazine, and Alex Klobouk from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, who met Stuart Murdoch on the ''Dear Catastrophe Waitress'' tour. Stuart Murdoch also held an open audition on the

imeem The online service imeem was a social media website where users interacted with each other by Streaming media, streaming, uploading and sharing music and music videos. It operated from 2003 until 2009 when it was shut down after being acquired by ...

community portal – the candidates who wanted to work with the group were to send in their

demos Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * plural for Demo (computer programming) ...

of two Belle and Sebastian songs: ''

'' and ''The Psychiatrist Is In''. Brittany Stallings and Dina Bankole from the US were chosen out of about 400 applications; in February 2008 they were invited to a trial recording session in Glasgow. Eventually ''Funny Little Frog'' was sung in the project by Brittany Stallings, with Dina Bankole performing some of the other pieces. In 2008 and 2009, some other vocalists joined the project, including Asya from the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

-based group

Smoosh Chaos Chaos are an American indie synthpop band based in Brooklyn, New York. The band was formed in Seattle under the name Smoosh in 2000 and adopted their current name in 2012. The band consists of two sisters, who founded the band as child ...

, Linnea Jönsson from the Swedish band

Those Dancing Days Those Dancing Days were an indie pop band from Nacka, a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden. Most frequently compared to Northern Soul and 1960s era girl-groups, the band formed in 2005 while the members were all still in school. They were signed to W ...

; there was also one man in this group:

Neil Hannon Edward Neil Anthony Hannon (born 7 November 1970) is a Northern Irish singer and songwriter. He is the creator and front man of the chamber pop group The Divine Comedy, and is the band's sole constant member. Hannon wrote the theme tunes for t ...

from

The Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...

Work with Catherine Ireton

The main discovery of the project turned out to be Catherine Ireton, with whom Murdoch had established contact by chance in 2005. Catherine Ireton comes from

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, she was studying Drama and Theatre Studies at

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of ...

between 2002 and 2005. There she was the vocalist in the pop-jazz group elephant, with whom she published the album ''In the Moon'' in 2004. The band broke up in July 2005, but before that the songwriter and guitarist of elephant, Michael John McCarthy, moved to Glasgow to do a post-graduate course and passed the album ''In the Moon'' to his friend who showed it to Stuart Murdoch. When Stuart Murdoch heard the album of elephant, he invited Catherine Ireton, who was in her final year at university and both directed and played in theatre performances in Ireland at that time, to Glasgow in March 2005, held a trial recording session for her and afterwards asked her if she wanted to work with Belle and Sebastian. The singer agreed and moved to Scotland in the same year. She joined the project along with other vocalists, singing and recording demos of nearly all the songs. Catherine Ireton appeared on the sleeve of the EP ''The White Collar Boy'' as early as 2006 even though she did not perform any songs on it. Finally she appeared as the vocalist in the single ''Come Monday Night'' and then in the main album ''God Help the Girl'', both released in 2009. Out of 14 pieces on the album, Catherine Ireton performs (solo or with other singers) in 10 songs.

Film

The film of the same name was shot in Glasgow during 2012 and released in 2014. It was premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

in January 2014 in the World Cinema Dramatic section, and a European premiere was held on the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

in February. The film was awarded a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2014.

Musical releases

The records released within the project include so far three singles, one EP (''Stills'') and the album ''God Help the Girl'' with the following pieces: ''Come Monday Night'' – single, released on 11 May 2009: # ''Come Monday Night'' (Catherine Ireton) # ''Howard Jones Is My Mozart'' (Kim Moore) ''God Help the Girl'' – the main album of the project, whose recording began in

CaVa Studios Ca Va Studios or Ca Va Sound is a professional recording studio based in the West End of Glasgow, Scotland. CaVa has previously had bases both in Glasgow and Edinburgh. The studios began in 1974 started by founder Brian Young and his team. Sin ...

in Glasgow and which was released on 22 June 2009: # ''Act of the Apostle'' (Catherine Ireton) – 2:43 # ''God Help The Girl'' (Catherine Ireton) – 3:25 # ''Pretty Eve in the Tub'' (Stuart Murdoch and Catherine Ireton) – 2:46 # ''A Unified Theory'' (instrumental) – 1:15 # ''Hiding Neath My Umbrella'' (Catherine Ireton and Stuart Murdoch) – 3:44 # ''

'' (Brittany Stallings) – 4:04 # ''If You Could Speak'' (Catherine Ireton and Anna Miles) – 2:47 # ''Musician Please Take Heed'' (Catherine Ireton) – 3:58 # ''Perfection as a Hipster'' (Neil Hannon and Catherine Ireton) – 3:26 # ''Come Monday Night'' (Catherine Ireton) – 3:28 # ''Music Room Window'' (instrumental) – 1:00 # ''I Just Want Your Jeans'' (Asya) – 3:24 # ''I'll Have to Dance with Cassie'' (Catherine Ireton) – 3:47 # ''A Down and Dusky Blonde'' (Asya, Dina Bankole, Catherine Ireton, Celia Garcia, Brittany Stallings) – 4:49 ''Funny Little Frog'' – single, released on 31 July 2009: # ''Funny Little Frog'' (Brittany Stallings) # ''Mary's Market'' (Stuart Murdoch) ''Stills'' – EP, released on 3 November 2009: # ''I'm in Love with the City'' (Catherine Ireton) # ''He's a Loving Kind of Boy'' (Stuart Murdoch) # ''Stills'' (Alex Klobouk) # ''Baby's Just Waiting'' (Celia Garcia) # ''The Psychiatrist Is In'' (Catherine Ireton) ''Baby, You're Blind'' – single, released on 24 May 2010: # ''Baby, You're Blind'' (Linnea Jönsson) # ''A Down and Dusky Blonde'' (Dina Bankole, Catherine Ireton - new version) All the records were published by Belle and Sebastian's home record companies:

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk rock and early post-pun ...

in the UK and

Matador Records Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of mainly indie rock, but also punk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronic acts. History Matador was created in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York City apart ...

in the US. The album was promoted in concerts on a short tour which was held in November 2009: during the Crossing Borders Festival in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

(20/11), in the

100 Club The 100 Club is a music venue located at 100 Oxford Street, London, England, where it has been hosting live music since 24 October 1942. It was originally called the Feldman Swing Club, but changed its name when the father of the current owner ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

(21/11), and the

Usher Hall The Usher Hall is a concert hall in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has hosted concerts and events since its construction in 1914 and can hold approximately 2,200 people in its recently restored auditorium, which is well loved by performers due to its ...

in Edinburgh (29/11). The latter featured the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. The above pieces include only part of the music material which has been recorded within the project so far.

Character and themes of the songs

Owing to Stuart Murdoch's authorship and the accompaniment of the group Belle and Sebastian, the songs from the project ''God Help the Girl'' much resemble in their musical aspect the other work of Stuart Murdoch and Belle and Sebastian band. These similarities are all the more visible that some of the songs (''Funny Little Frog'', ''Act of the Apostle'') were taken directly from the band's repertory and were performed earlier by Murdoch himself. In the project ''God Help the Girl'', however, the band limited itself to the accompaniment, the main roles are played by the vocalist – Catherine Ireton and others; which means that the released singles and albums cannot be regarded, strictly speaking, as part of the output of Belle and Sebastian. The invitation of female vocalists to take part in the project resulted from the subject matter of the songs and the planned film: their main character is a girl named Eve, who dropped out of college (where she was not a very good student), starts work, but wants to change her life – she would like to become a singer or a songwriter. She also has many love and other personal problems – she has just absconded from the psychiatric ward. The problems, however, do not look dramatic in the songs in the form as they were written by Murdoch and are performed by the vocalists. Most of the pieces are cheerful in tone, with elements of irony and self-irony; even the more reflective songs, like ''Come Monday Night'', have a cheerful and catchy tune. In the musical aspect, ''God Help the Girl'' is a reference to, or even

pastiche A pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking it ...

of British girl bands performing in the 1960s, with a rich orchestral arrangement.

References

External links

Official site of the project ''God Help the Girl''

Stuart Murdoch: ''There is no glamour in being a pop band''
The Guardian blog
Stuart Murdoch: ''How I found the ultimate girl group''
The Guardian blog
''Stuart Murdoch's God Help the Girl: Part III''
The Guardian blog
Stuart Murdoch: ''The joys of marketing a concept''
The Guardian blog
Liam McIllvanney, ''A story set to music''
The Guardian article

Paste Magazine article * ttps://www.theguardian.com/music/audio/2009/oct/29/paul-morley-x-factor-belle-and-sebastian ''Paul Morley's Showing Off ... Stuart Murdoch from Belle and Sebastian''The Guardian – audio interview with Stuart Murdoch {{DEFAULTSORT:God Help The Girl 2009 albums Belle and Sebastian albums Rough Trade Records albums Matador Records albums