Matador

Once in danger of mining the same territory too many times, Belle & Sebastian has opened up into a pseudo-democracy, with each member contributing to the best of their abilities and leader Stuart Murdoch writing to different rhythms. Norah Jones shares a duet on “Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John,” for a lite-FM tune, playing Olivia Newton-John to Murdoch’s John Travolta. The title track belongs to the show Mad Men. Stevie Jackson’s “I’m Not Living in the Real World” ventures a little too close to the musical TV hit Glee to be effective. But Sarah Martin’s “I Didn’t See It Coming” is exactly the kind of teamwork that the group needs to succeed. Murdoch’s still the team’s MVP. “Calculating Bimbo,” “The Ghost of Rockschool” and “Read the Blessed Pages” are tunes that prove Murdoch’s expanded range works wonders.