Belle and Sebastian announce first studio album in seven years with lead single "Unnecessary Drama"

"Unnecessary Drama" is the group's first release since 2020's live album What to Look for in Summer, and is teamed with a video directed by Kasparas Vidunas and Eric J. Liddle.

Belle and Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch says of the single, "The song is about a young person experimenting in being a human again after a forced hiatus. The person is weighing up whether or not it’s worth the mess! Still, you dip your toe in and it becomes delicious, and you get too much of it. Between trouble and nothing, we still choose the trouble."

The new single will feature on Belle and Sebastian's forthcoming album A Bit Of Previous, which is their first studio album in seven years after 2015's Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance. The album was recorded in Glasgow after their LA plans were scrapped due to the pandemic.

In the linear notes, Murdoch said, "We did it together, us and the city. This record was the first ‘full’ LP recording for B&S in Glasgow since Fold Your Hands Child, 1999. We clocked in every morning, we played our songs, we wrote together, we tried new things, we took the proverbial lump of clay, and we threw it every day."

Tracklist:

1. Young And Stupid
2. If They're Shooting At You
3. Talk To Me Talk To Me
4. Reclaim The Night
5. Do It For Your Country
6. Prophets On Hold
7. Unnecessary Drama
8. Come On Home
9. A World Without You
10. Deathbed Of My Dreams
11. Sea Of Sorrow
12. Working Boy In New York City