5 March 2020 Half a decade on from their reunion gigs in 2016-2017, a full decade-and-a-half after their farewell shows in 2006, Arab Strap have readied their seventh album: As Days Get Dark. It’s been a thrill to find that neither Aidan Moffat nor Malcolm Middleton would grace a record with the Arab Strap moniker unless it lived up to the exacted standards they set for themselves. It’s also pleasing to hear that — COVID willing — there are already plans for a follow-up EP to accompany touring plans set for later in the year (with the same tour booked again as a backup in spring 2022.) Taking a break from the pleasures of domesticity and enforced confinement, the ever-charming and loquacious Mr. Moffat took time out to tell PopMatters of matters large and small, past and present.