The incredible Arab Strap’s new album “Half-Told Tales” will be released on Rock Action Records on 4th September 2026; arriving almost three decades to the day since the influential band’s first single was released.
The Scottish duo return with their third post-hiatus LP.
Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton burrow down new routes and explore new turns on a record which remains unmistakably Arab Strap. Two years on from ‘I’m totally fine with it don’t give a fuck anymore and the pair are back on Rock Action, once again balancing moody, stripped-back instrumentals with conversational lyricism dealing in distant introspection, abstract focuses, and their typical uneasy humour.
Arab Strap’s ninth album, “Half-Told Tales“, adds another chapter to a catalogue built on emotional candour, dry humour and uneasy beauty. Following I’m totally fine with it ???? don’t give a fuck anymore ????, the duo continue to balance Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton’s familiar mix of wit and darkness, moving between hushed introspection and moments of unexpected force.
Featuring the single ‘You You You’, the album stretches their sound in new directions, including what the band describe as a “disco-metal incantation that might make you dance”, without losing the atmosphere and tension that has long defined their work. Recorded with longtime collaborator Paul Savage, “Half-Told Tales” finds Arab Strap exploring new corners of their sound while remaining unmistakably themselves.
This week they shared its second single, “Glamour Magick,” via a horror-themed music video. The song makes light of the various beauty regimes people go through to look young and in the video Moffat goes through various procedures, with Middleton as the doctor’s assistant, but things take a dark twist. David Arthur directed the video, which also stars Jenny Ryan.
Moffat had this to say about the video in a press release: “‘Glamour Magick’ is about the pressure to look youthful, and how far we might go to hide our natural selves. It started with a few things I use regularly in middle age—caffeine shampoo, whitening toothpaste, eye cream etc.—and then I wondered how much further I’d be willing to go. New teeth, new hair, liposuction, eye-lifts, facial fat injections … how long until there’s nothing really left of me? It’s nothing new, of course—the end of the song mentions the Fountain of Youth and Greek goddess Hebe—and looking young has always been an inherent human desire. Time is our enemy, and we’re all spending money on trying to fight it – it’s just a question of how much we’re willing to pay.”
“We’re 30 years old this year,” says the duo in a press release. “So we decided to celebrate by doing what we enjoy most: by making new music.” “Half-Told Tales” will come out almost exactly 30 years after the release of the band’s debut single, 1996’s “The First Big Weekend.”
Middleton says of the album: “The excitement comes because me and Aidan like and hate different things. There are things in the record that individually we might not choose but that’s why I like this album so much, because it’s not the one I wanted to make. I don’t think it’s what Aidan wanted to make either, it’s this bit in the middle. It might not be 100% what we want but it’s good for the band, and it works.”
Released on 2LP,
The Fat Angel Sings 