Exclusive Daily Download: "Stink," Arab Strap

"Burn these sheets that we just fucked in," spits out perpetually bilious Scotsman Aidan Moffatt to open this song, and with it Arab Strap's sixth album, "The Last Romance." As Arab Strap albums go this one is on the light and even occasionally cheerful side -- there are songs that approach catchiness, and, even more surprisingly, moments that approach tenderness -- and guitarist and all around musical mastermind Malcolm Middleton has pushed the music toward lusher, more forgiving and approachable territories. Still, Moffatt -- so sordid and misanthropic -- sings and writes with such mesmerizing intensity that he ultimately overwhelms everything else, so that even the glossiest and most potentially pop tracks feel dirty and degraded.