New Releases: Belle And Sebastian Get A Life

One of indie pop's most revered acts are set to unleash their strongest effort in years. Belle And Sebastian, after a lull that included lacklustre efforts Dear Catastrophe Waitress and Storytelling, are back this week with The Life Pursuit.

On their most sonically adventurous record to date, the band move into glam and power pop territory, giving upcoming tourmates The New Pornographers a run for their money. Stuart Murdoch is definitely flavour of the month once again with this release.

On the other end of the indie scale, Beth Orton is also back with her first effort in a few years, Comfort Of Strangers. Will this record see the songstress going back to her roots as an electronic folk artist, or descend further into the adult contemporary ranks with fellow formerly edgy indie queen, Liz Phair? Find out on Tuesday.

One release that's been making a lot of noise in the past couple of months is Rick Moranis' semi-serious, semi-funny new LP, The Agoraphobic Cowboy. On it, the TV star turned kids movie star turned musician embraces his children's love of alt.country and bluegrass and turns in a record that's been nominated for a Grammy Award. Watch the show on Wednesday to see if Moranis is king of his new career path.

 Everybody was happy to see the recent return of The Go-Betweens, with their well-received comeback record, Oceans Apart. Now they're back with a CD/DVD called That Striped Sunlight Sound, which sees Grant McLennan and Robert Forster doing live acoustic versions of some of their hits as well as performing in concert with a full band. It's out Tuesday.

Other releases this week include Jack Johnson's Sing-A-Longs And Lullabies For The Film Curious George, Big Wig's Reclamation and wordsmith Ursula Rucker's Ma'at Mama.