Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant

Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant is the fourth album from the Scottish group Belle & Sebastian released in 2000.

Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant
Studio album by
Belle & Sebastian
Released6 June 2000
RecordedCaVa Studios, Glasgow
GenreChamber pop
Length40:40
LabelJeepster
ProducerTony Doogan
Belle & Sebastian chronology
The Boy with the Arab Strap
(1998)		 Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant
(2000)		 Storytelling
(2002)

Recording and production

Stuart Murdoch recalled that this album felt more difficult to make than prior albums. Musically the songs were more complex and "demanded a pop precision that you just couldn’t skirt around" requiring the group to practice and refine things more than they had traditionally.[1]

The band introduced many stylistic changes on this album, such as an organic strings section and more songs with lead vocals by other members of the band; Sarah Martin sings on "Waiting for the Moon to Rise", Isobel Campbell sings on "Family Tree", and performs duets with Stevie Jackson on "Beyond the Sunrise" and Stuart Murdoch on "Women's Realm". Jackson also sings lead vocal on "The Wrong Girl". It is the last Belle & Sebastian album to feature bass player Stuart David, who departed the band after the album's completion.

The twin sisters pictured on the cover are Gyða and Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir both former members of the Icelandic experimental group múm.[1]

The album's title comes from a piece of graffiti on a public toilet wall Stuart Murdoch had seen years earlier and remembered.[1][2]

Reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic68/100[3]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Entertainment WeeklyB[5]
The Guardian[6]
Los Angeles Times[7]
Melody Maker[8]
NME8/10[9]
Pitchfork6.7/10[10]
Rolling Stone[11]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[12]
Spin8/10[13]

The album was released to generally favourable reviews.[3] Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant debuted at No. 80 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 113,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.[14] The album's introductory tune, I Fought in a War was used for the final credits for the widely acclaimed 2005 documentary about the Military Industrial Complex and 11 September Why We Fight.

The book

Within the album's photography collection are pictures of two books, Beyond the Sunrise and I Fought in a War. Both books are titles of songs on the album, but the books are fictional creations of Murdoch's. Due to the band's interest in literature, fans have tried to locate the books that they believed had "inspired" the songs. Belle & Sebastian have informed fans about the fictive nature of the books on the "Questions and Answers" section of their website.[1][15]

Track listing
No.TitleLength
1."I Fought in a War"4:09
2."The Model"3:56
3."Beyond the Sunrise"4:06
4."Waiting for the Moon to Rise"3:13
5."Don't Leave the Light on Baby"4:27
6."The Wrong Girl"3:21
7."The Chalet Lines"2:33
8."Nice Day for a Sulk"2:31
9."Women's Realm"4:35
10."Family Tree"4:04
11."There's Too Much Love"3:27
Total length:40:40

References
  1. Murdoch, Stuart. "Sleevenotes - Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant". Belle & Sebastian.
  2. "Belle And Sebastian Talks "Hands" LP". VH1 news. Viacom Media Networks. 30 May 2000. Archived from the original on 5 February 2013.
  3. "Reviews for Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant by Belle and Sebastian". Metacritic. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  4. Ankeny, Jason. "Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant – Belle and Sebastian". AllMusic. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  5. Brunner, Rob (9 June 2000). "Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  6. Costa, Maddy (2 June 2000). "Mind your own business". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  7. Hochman, Steve (18 June 2000). "Belle & Sebastian 'Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant' Jeepster/Matador". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  8. Collins, Robert (30 May 2000). "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back". Melody Maker: 54. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  9. Long, April (3 June 2000). "Belle & Sebastian – Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant". NME. Archived from the original on 19 June 2000. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  10. Mirov, Nick (31 May 2000). "Belle and Sebastian: Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant". Pitchfork. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  11. Chonin, Neva (22 June 2000). "Belle and Sebastian: Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 27 October 2007. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  12. Wolk, Douglas (2004). "Belle and Sebastian". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 59–60. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  13. Greenwald, Andy (July 2000). "Belle & Sebastian: Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant". Spin. 16 (7): 157. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  14. https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/69707/update-belle-sebastians-new-catastrophe
  15. "Belle & Sebastian: Q & A". Archived from the original on 26 November 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
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