Belle and Sebastian are back in action in a big way.  They've been working in Atlanta with producer Ben H. Allen III (Gnarls Barkley, Animal Collective) on their 9th studio album, the followup to 2010's Write About Love; it will be their first to be released on a worldwide basis by longtime US label Matador.

 

In the meantime, they're playing several festival and one-off dates this summer and fall:

 

JUNE

 

19 - Vienna, Austria - Arena Wien Open Air

20 - Neuhausen, Germany - Southside Festival

21 - Scheesel, Germany - Hurricane Festival

22 - Hilvarenbeek, Holland - Best Kept Secret Festival

25 - Copenhagen, Denmark - DR Concert Hall

26 - Norkopping, Sweden - Bravalla Festival

 

JULY

 

26 - Costa Brava, Spain - Festival Porta Ferada

28 - Santiago de Compostela, Spain - Plaza de la Quintana

 

AUGUST

 

3 - Katowice, Poland - Off Festival

8 - Cesena, Italy - Rocca Malatestiana

10 - Palermo, Italy - Ypsigrock Festival

 

OCTOBER

 

3 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Festival

10 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Festival

31 - Paris, France - Pitchfork Festival

 

Additionally, there will be an extensive reissue series on Matador this fall, which is also when Stuart Murdoch's film "God Help The Girl" will be making its theatrical run in the US and Canada.

 

In February, the band won the "Outstanding Contribution To Music" award at the 2014 NME Awards; watch their acceptance speech here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCZFYE-AqNY.

 

Pitchfork's beautiful, illuminating oral-history documentary of their classic 1996 LP If You're Feeling Sinister (part of their "Pitchfork Classic" series), was just nominated for Webby Awards for "Music" and "Documentary". It can be seen in its entirety here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4de-RHHLCBA.