^{Picture: Titouan Massé}

Arab Strap have announced a stripped back tour of intimate venues to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of their landmark album Philophobia. Tickets for the shows go on sale at 10am on Friday 31 March.

Released on Monday 20 April 1998, Malcolm Middleton and Aidan Moffat will ‘quietly celebrate’ their second LP's quarter-century milestone with their Philophobia Undressed tour across England. More dates will be announced in coming months. 

The band said in a press release: ‘With a new album about halfway ready for release next year, we thought we could easily ignore our second album’s 25th birthday. But we find it hard to say no to Philophobia. If our first album was a ramshackle oddity filled with in-jokes and formerly private tape moments that we never expected to bother many ears, it was Philophobia where everything started to come together, when we began to realise making music might have a future for us, and the Arab Strap sounds and themes began to take shape. 

‘If you’ve seen us play in the past few years, you’ll know we still include quite a few of its songs in our set lists. These tunes seem to have endured, and it’s probably the only album we’d ever consider performing all the way through.

'But, with our new forward-facing philosophy and eighth album on the way, we didn’t want to make too big a deal of it. We hummed, we hawed. Venues for a bells-and-whistles full-band Philophobia tour were on hold for a while, but those plans were abandoned because it just didn’t feel right and, as Aidan said on our last album, we don’t really give a fuck about the past. But, as we say, it’s hard to say no to Philophobia, and we couldn’t just let its 25th birthday shuffle by unmarked … so we’ve decided to celebrate it after all, but quietly. 

'The Philophobia Undressed tour will feature the album in full, but performed by just the two of us – Malcolm and Aidan with a guitar or two, some drum machines and probably a digital Mellotron – as we sing our old songs about being young, in intimate surroundings and, in some cases, visiting towns we haven’t played in a long, long time.

'The tour begins in England this June, but we’ll be announcing many more dates across the UK and Europe as the year goes on, so keep your eyes peeled and follow our socials, and hopefully you can join us at one of our gentle soirées in celebration of Philophobia’s quarter century. We’ll probably play some new songs too.’

Starting in Carlisle’s Brickyard on Thursday 8 June, Arab Strap will then visit venues in Birkenhead, Birmingham, Bristol, London, Brighton, Manchester and Gateshead. 

Listen to the opening track from Philophobia, ‘Packs Of Three’, below (warning: as with many songs from Arab Strap, this one’s NSFW). 

Arab Strap’s Philophobia Undressed UK tour dates: 

Thursday 8 June – Brickyard, Carlisle
Friday 9 June – Futureyard, Birkenhead
Sunday 11 June – Hare & Hounds, Birmingham
Monday 12 June – Fleece, Bristol
Tuesday 13 June – Earth Theatre, London
Wednesday 14 June – Chalk, Brighton
Thursday 15 June – Yes, Manchester
Friday 16 June – Sage 2, Gateshead

Tickets for Arab Strap’s Philophobia Undressed tour go on sale at 10am on Friday 31 March.