Arab Strap Wears a Dark Heart on their Sleeve

 I’m totally fine with it don’t give a fuck anymore is the latest entry from Scottish indie-rock duo Arab Strap. The pair, made up of Falkirk natives Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton, have been playing together since 1995. Though they decided to break up the band in 2006, Moffat and Middleton remained on good terms and later reformed Arab Strap in 2016. They took off again with a string of shows across the UK through the rest of ’16 and into 2017, but would not release new material until 2021 with their album As Days Get Dark.

Arab Strap has always lived up to its name with raw, raunchy lyrics and a reputation for putting shunned aspects of life into the public’s eye. The group is set apart from their peers by their mature and often sorrowful approach to these themes. They have no shame about hard drugs or kinky sex. Instead, their sadness comes from a world that suffers ignorance of those experiences. I’m totally fine with it don’t give a fuck anymore observe the double-denim-clad corpse of the vibrant culture Arab Strap came from. It ruminates on how that ignorance evolved and has devoured humanity’s passion.

“Allatonceness” is a poignant story about such ignorance — where it comes from, what it does, and how we’re all made its victims. The song opens with the repeated lyrics “They’ve got your attention,” followed by unflattering descriptions of various groups. “The Fat and the Furious,” “The Juvenile Jilted,” and “Deluders and Doxers” are but a few examples. Moffat and Middleton are speaking to both these people and their audience. Whether you identify with one of these groups or not is irrelevant to the message. Someone or something is distracting you, and that makes you a part of this vicious cycle. The pair lament their own victimhood in the chorus. The words “You’d think I’d riot? You’d think I’d cry? Instead I sit here, fucking numb” ring with desperation to lash out against this pain and the inability to do so.

The theme of societal sorrow is continued in “Hide Your Fires.” There is a strong sense of mourning on this track. The nostalgic and sad synth backtrack, somber riffs and decidedly depressed lyrics come together for a tearful goodbye to cheerful days passed. “We’re never going back to the stars, I know” opens the chorus and presents the song as deeply personal to the duo. They sing about their old life, dancing in “diamond rain and super-sonic winds” and “spooning beneath the pillars of creation.” But the underground scene they reveled in has disappeared: “The pillars of creation died a millennia ago.” The world has changed. But we haven’t just left the stars; the stars have died. We can never go back.

Moffat and Middleton gaze through the window of time only to find that the shutters have been closed, and the storm outside is too dangerous to open them again. They still remember the world beyond the pane but can no longer live in it. Others will never even have the chance to see it. I’m totally fine with it don’t give a fuck anymore stands as a reminder of the bright world that once was and as a love letter from two artists who miss it dearly.