Aidan Moffat & The Best-Ofs - How To Get To Heaven From Scotland

Moffat and friends bare all

There’s a fine line between self-indulgent navel-gazing and genuine self-examination, and it’s the mark of a true artist to get the balance just right. Moffat does exactly that on a 12-track LP that examines love and belief in all its inexplicable tenderness, presenting emotions in a matter-of-fact and often magical frame. Within the first two minutes of the album, Lover’s Song has human beatbox, fiddles and a kind of droning, epic folk melody that’s drunkenly intimate.

The journey is varied: Oh Men! presents the predilection to ogle that is the male lot, while there’s genuine tenderness on Lullaby For Unborn Child. The Best-Ofs include Stevie Jones (last seen on Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan’s LP) and ex-Delgados member Alun Woodward, providing massive personality to songs that range from the catchy throwaway to the deeply moving. Added collectability to this is in the deluxe box set, released on Valentines Day, which features both vinyl and CD copies of the LP, a five-track bonus EP, a 7” of I Got You Babe/Love Is Not A Game, a board game called How To Get To Heaven From Scotland and a Valentine’s card signed by Moffat himself. Sweet.

Chemikal Underground | CHEM 113 CD

Reviewed by Joe Shooman
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