At the beginning of high school, I was hopelessly uncool. I was socially awkward, and my mother was still buying my clothes. This changed when I met Ashley, a transfer from a private school whose “nobody gets me” persona — in hindsight, a bit cliché — was irresistible. I studied her intensely; her favorite things became mine.
The friendship was doomed from the start. When it finally imploded, I took with it If You’re Feeling Sinister, the sophomore album from Scottish alterna-pop group Belle & Sebastian. Delicate in its construction and refreshingly witty, this album is one of my favorites of all time, and Belle and Sebastian’s best work to date.
“Fox in the Snow” and “Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying” leave me feeling pensive yet hopeful, introspective yet whimsical — everything a clumsy teenager could ever hope to experience. If You’re Feeling Sinister brings me back to fourth period lunch with Ashley, when no one but Belle and Sebastian really “got us.”
