The Last Romance = the last hurrah

What could be more depressing than Arab Strap? Well, the news that Arab Strap are splitting up. Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton have decided that their sixth album proper The Last Romance will, appropriately enough, be their last.

"Yes, it’s the end for Arab Strap. After ten years, six studio albums, three live albums and all manner of everything else, we’ve decided the story should come to a close. There’s no animosity, no drama, we simply feel we’ve run our course and The Last Romance seems to us the most obvious and logical final act of the Arab Strap studio adventure. Everybody likes a happy ending! We will, of course, be celebrating. Our anniversary compilation, Ten Years Of Tears will be released this October / November to coincide with our Farewell Tour. We hope you’ll be able to join us, but if you can’t make it then let us take this opportunity to thank you for listening."

No, thank YOU.

Arab Strap are a band I really ought to investigate further - the two albums I own, Philophobia and The Red Thread (their second and fourth), are both very good, particularly the latter. And somewhere there's a copy of Middleton's solo album Into The Woods with my name on it...