| As Days Get Dark | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 5 March 2021 | |||
| Studio | Chem19 (Glasgow, Scotland) | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock | |||
| Length | 47:19 | |||
| Label | Rock Action | |||
| Producer | Paul Savage | |||
| Arab Strap chronology | ||||
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| Singles from As Days Get Dark | ||||
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As Days Get Dark is the seventh studio album by Scottish indie rock band Arab Strap, released on 15 March 2021 on Rock Action.
It is their first album in 16 years (since The Last Romance ) and their first since officially reforming in 2016.
The usual lyrical preoccupations of Arab Strap—depravity, drinking and despair—are in evidence on As Days Get Dark, with allusions to voodoo ritual ("The Turning of the Bones") and Greek mythology ("Here Comes Comus!") alongside commentaries on immigration ("Fable of the Urban Fox"), social media ("Bluebird"), and emotional burnout ("Tears on Tour").
The album art depicts a personal computer desktop with two windows open, both displaying images. The 1886 painting "The Night Escorted by the Geniuses of Love and Study" by Pedro Américo is foregrounded, but clearly obscures a presumably pornographic image of a reclining figure clad in nylons and little if anything else. The back cover is similar, with what appears to be the same image this time obscured by both the track listing (in a bespoke Microsoft Word) and Lorenzo Costa's "The Reign of Comus".
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| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 84/100 [1] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| NME | 4/5 [3] |
| Pitchfork | 8.0/10 [4] |
As Days Get Dark was received positively, with some reviewers describing it as the band's best work. [3]
All tracks are written by Malcolm Middleton and Aidan Moffat
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Turning of Our Bones" | 5:03 |
| 2. | "Another Clockwork Day" | 3:30 |
| 3. | "Compersion Pt. 1" | 3:36 |
| 4. | "Bluebird" | 2:52 |
| 5. | "Kebabylon" | 5:15 |
| 6. | "Tears on Tour" | 4:29 |
| 7. | "Here Comes Comus!" | 4:14 |
| 8. | "Fable of the Urban Fox" | 4:55 |
| 9. | "I Was Once a Weak Man" | 3:27 |
| 10. | "Sleeper" | 6:24 |
| 11. | "Just Enough" | 3:33 |
| Chart (2021) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Scottish Albums (OCC) [5] | 1 |
| UK Albums (OCC) [6] | 14 |
| UK Independent Albums (OCC) [7] | 3 |
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