September 7, 2026

Belle and Sebastian

Belle and Sebastian are a Scottish indie pop band formed in Glasgow in 1994. Led by Stuart Murdoch, Belle and Sebastian have released twelve studio albums. The band are often compared with acts such as the Smiths and Nick Drake. Belle and Sebastian took their name from a short story Murdoch had written about a boy and girl, whose title was a play on the 1965 television series Belle and Sebastian.

Nobodys-Empire

The Magic of Wandering Days

Robin Lapid March 11, 2025

Nobody’s Empire by Stuart Murdoch. There are plenty of artists who cross genres into writing books—actors, directors, and musicians have all tried this form of creative expression. It doesn’t surprise me that musicians venture into the literary genre, especially singer-songwriters, who only have to trade their microphone for a pen to tell a story that sings. Stuart Murdoch, the singer-songwriter behind Belle and Sebastian, the Scottish indie-pop band that gained acclaim in the early ‘90s behind Murdoch’s witty lyrics and gorgeous melodies, seems perfectly suited to the task. Besides writing several albums that now span decades, Murdoch has published The Celestial Café, a collection of blog entries, poems, and lyrics, and written and directed a film, 2014’s God Help the Girl, about a lost and lonely young woman who starts a band with friends in Glasgow.

Read MoreRead more about The Magic of Wandering Days
Stuart Murdoch photo by Amy Timko

Write About Love, and Music, and California

Robin Lapid February 12, 2025

On a blustery, cold San Francisco night (cold for San Francisco, that is—a frigid 45 degrees), I walked to the end of a long line of well-dressed indie kids of all ages. We were queuing up on Valencia Street outside The Chapel music venue in San Francisco’s Mission District, the neighborhood that just happened to play a part in Nobody’s Empire, the debut novel by Stuart Murdoch, Scottish singer and mastermind behind the twee-pop wonderband Belle and Sebastian. Fans of the band, which dug its deep, pop hooks and its wispy rhymes into the hearts of twee music lovers from 1996 on, also know it as the name of one of their songs and the album it’s on. The book tour promos played to its audience: It was marketed as a night of “readings, songs, live Q&A, and book signing,” and it featured informal chats with moderators and hosts Mike Schulman and Nommi Alouf, the latter of whom figures in the novel as the college radio station DJ who invites the main character on her radio show.

Read MoreRead more about Write About Love, and Music, and California
Belle and Sebastian

Minneapolis: August 14 to August 18, 2017

vusleeper August 9, 2017

Here are some concerts taking place in the Minneapolis/St Paul area from August 14 to...

Read MoreRead more about Minneapolis: August 14 to August 18, 2017
Sleater-Kinney at First Avenue 02-14-2015x

W♥M’s Favorite 15 Shows of 2015

vusleeper December 25, 2015

This year (2015), W♥M covered 346, which is an absolutely amazingly large number considering that...

Read MoreRead more about W♥M’s Favorite 15 Shows of 2015