''The Last Romance'' is the sixth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Scottish

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Arab Strap Arab Strap are a Scottish indie rock band whose core members are Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton. The band were signed to independent record label Chemikal Underground, split in 2006 and reformed in 2016. The band signed to Rock Action Rec ...

, released on 17 October 2005 on

Chemikal Underground Chemikal Underground is an independent record label set up in 1994 at Glasgow, Scotland by rock band The Delgados. It was set up to release their first single, "Monica Webster" / "Brand New Car" and went on to break many new Scottish bands in ...

. Vocalist

Aidan Moffat Aidan John Moffat (born 10 April 1973) is a Scottish vocalist and musician, and member of the band Arab Strap. Early life Moffat was born and raised in Falkirk, Scotland. The first album he bought was ''Elvis Sings for Kids'' by Elvis Presley. ...

stated that the album is "a lot more upbeat, but still deals with some of the darker aspects of relationships. It's like the dark side in ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'' though – quicker, faster, more seductive." Moffat also noted his desire for the album "to be shorter, more immediate. If our previous albums could be considered 'hard work', I wanted this one to be a slap in the face. I felt it was important we didn't make the same album over ten years, so this one was going to be more digestible and a lot louder." Following the album's release, Arab Strap announced that it would be their last. Moffat stated that: "there’s no animosity, no drama. We simply feel we’ve run our course. ''The Last Romance'' seems the most obvious and logical final act of the Arab Strap studio adventure. Everybody likes a happy ending."

Overview

''The Last Romance'' maintains the snide lyrical style common to Arab Strap, while adding a more optimistic tone in certain songs, such as "There Is No Ending". There are only 3 acoustic songs on this album, which has a rock-oriented sound, with influences from bands like

Mogwai Mogwai () are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass guitar), and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mogw ...

. The sleeve artwork on the front contains a

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

designed by Australian illustrator Rik Lee, whose previous work features many of the images seen on the sleeve artwork. The inside contains the lyrics hand-written in a notebook-style layout.

Reception

In December 2009, '' The Skinny'' placed ''The Last Romance'' at number 25 on its list of "Scottish Albums of the Decade".

Track listing

Personnel

Credits for ''The Last Romance'' adapted from album liner notes. ;Arab Strap *

Malcolm Middleton Malcolm Bruce Middleton (born 31 December 1973) is a Scottish musician and member of indie band Arab Strap. He has also released seven solo studio albums and three albums performing under the pseudonym Human Don't Be Angry. Early life Middleto ...

– bass, guitar *

– vocals, drums, organ ;Additional musicians *Geoff Allan – vocals ("There Is No Ending") *Alan Barr – cello ("Stink", "Confessions of a Big Brother") *

Barry Burns Barry Burns is a Scottish musician best known for his work with post-rock band Mogwai. Early life Burns went to Cardinal Newman High School in Bellshill before enrolling with the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, taking ...

– organ ("Come Round and Love Me"), piano ("Dream Sequence") * David Jeans – drums ("(If There's) No Hope for Us", "Don't Ask Me to Dance", "Speed-Date", "Dream Sequence") *Nicola MacLeod – vocals ("(If There's) No Hope for Us", "Come Round and Love Me") *Jon McCue – vocals ("There Is No Ending") *Jenny Reeve – violin ("Come Round and Love Me", "There Is No Ending") *Andrew Savage – vocals ("There Is No Ending") *Allan Wylie – trumpet ("Speed-Date", "There Is No Ending") ;Production *Geoff Allan – recording, production *Arab Strap – production *Morten Bue – mastering * Paul Savage – recording, production ;Artwork and design *Bulletproof ID – layout *Rik Lee – illustrations

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Romance 2005 albums Arab Strap (band) albums Chemikal Underground albums