Belle and Sebastian were formed in Glasgow, in the mid 1990s by Stuart Murdoch and Stuart David, both of whom had enrolled in a programme for unemployed musicians.
Together, with music professor Alan Rankine (formerly of The Associates), they recorded some demos, which were picked up by the college's Music Business course that produced released one single per year on the college's label, Electric Honey.
As the band had a number of songs already and the label was extremely impressed with the demos, Belle and Sebastian were allowed to record a full-length album, which was recorded mostly live over three days, entitled 'Tigermilk'.
The warm reception the album received inspired Murdoch and David to turn the band into a full-time project, recruiting Stevie Jackson (guitar and vocals), Isobel Campbell (cello/vocals), Chris Geddes (keys) and Richard Colburn (drums) to fill out the group.
Their second album 'If You're Feeling Sinister' was released in 1996, to great acclaim, they went on to release a total of ten albums, through to 2019
My favourite tracks are 'The Boy With the Arab Strap', 'Lazy Lane Painter Jane' and 'The State I'm In '.