The first few months of college were hectic to say the least. Drama bubbling up from beneath me, work piling on top of me and all in this strange, new world ofVermont.

Music is one of the few escapes remaining – it is far safer than merely hiding at the bottom of a bottle, so my premier form of intoxication became Belle & Sebastian’s Tigermilk.

The quiet, dreamy vocals and the intensely poetic lyrics were just what a doctor would have prescribed for me given my state of mind.

Fast forward a few months and my life has settled. Aptly enough my first review for the Cynic is Belle and Sebastian’s latest release, The Life Pursuit. This newest LP is an extremely hopeful and upbeat addition to an already booming Belle and Sebastian canon.

Weaving uptempo tales of adolescent alienation with(of course) love, its sound reminds the listener more of The New Pornographers rather than what is considered typical Belle and Sebastian. Keep in mind, in no way is this a negative – bands need to reinvent themselves constantly or risk falling into the trap of sticking with an already working formula and stagnating (I’m looking at you Chris Martin).

The only fault with this collection is that it’s too much of a good thing. Like eating ice cream everyday for a week, one simply grows somewhat weary of the overwhelmingly sweet poppiness of the album.On the whole though, Belle and Sebastian once again doesn’t disappoint; The Life Pursuit helps secure the band’s already concrete place in turn-of-the-century rock history and if “For The Price of a Cup of Tea” (my personal favorite track) isn’t a hit single by April then perhaps pop is indeed, dead. Pick it up at Pure Pop!