Arab Strap are a Scottish indie rock band whose core members are Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton.
[2] Over the course of their ten-year existence, Arab Strap worked with numerous musicians, including Jenny Reeve and Stacey Sievewright, as well as Adele Bethel, who went on to form Sons and Daughters.
[citation needed] Arab Strap's marked characteristics include sordid, personal, yet honest, lyrics – described by the NME as "fly on the duvet vignettes".
The 1999 live album, Mad for Sadness, demonstrated how the sometimes spare recorded sound of their early music could lift into a celebration of a sexually empty, drug- and alcohol-dependent life.
"[6] In December 2009, Monday at the Hug & Pint, The Red Thread and The Last Romance entered The Skinny's "Scottish Albums of the Decade" list at no.
[8] On 17 November 2011, the band reformed for a one-off show as part of Glasgow venue Nice N Sleazy's 20th birthday celebrations.
Arab Strap confirmed on 15 June that they had reformed for three shows at London's Electric Brixton, Manchester's O2 Ritz and Glasgow's Barrowland Ballroom, all scheduled for October 2016, marking the band's 20th anniversary.
Middleton also started a new band with musician Joel Harries called Lichen Slow, who released their debut album in March 2023.
[13] In March 2023, Arab Strap announced a string of acoustic gigs to mark the 25th anniversary of Philophobia, touring in late 2023 until January 2024.
[14] In January 2024, the band announced their eighth studio album, I'm Totally Fine with It Don't Give a Fuck Anymore, with the first single "Bliss".