There are many things pop music tends to lack, but the lack of decent melodies is the most annoying. What passes itself off as a melody is really no more than a few notes thrown over three or four chords – and there are altogether too few exceptions.

But when mediocrity is the norm, the exceptions really shine, and Belle and Sebastian is one of them. A Scottish indie band, Belle and Sebastian has largely been unknown in the US, and it’s our loss. Blending light 60s pop with Vince Guaraldi’s Charlie Brown theme and a twee Britishness, this band consistently delivers fun, melodic tunes with poetic lyrics.

Social commentary is the name of the game throughout the album. The all-too-common indie rants against pop culture are forgivable, though, because of the band’s creativity. “Me and the Major,” for instance, is a protest against unfair treatment by adults – a tired theme, but they pull it off: “Me and the Major don’t see eye to eye on / A number of things, he’ll take a guy like me / And put him in the army / Cause the Queen’s own army makes a man of you / But he doesn’t understand and he doesn’t try.”

The band shines, however, in its encouragements to remain childlike and pure in a corrupting world: “Like Dylan in the Movies” and “Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying.” The last is a perfect pop song, catchy and jumpy. The lyrics meander through the writer’s thoughts, pausing to speak of love, books, and the lack of good music available. “Said the hero in the story / ‘It is mightier than swords / I could kill you sure / But I can only make you cry with these words.’” Beautiful.

Perhaps the only sour note struck is “If You’re Feeling Sinister.” A song about questing for spirituality in a mindset of despair, it warns the listener (with occasional crude language) to stay away from Christianity. “Go off and see a minister / He’ll try in vain to take away the pain of being a hopeless unbeliever.”

Despite this, the song is surrounded by enough of its betters to make the album worth purchasing. “Nobody writes them like they used to, so it might as well be me,” the man sings, and as you listen you’ll be glad he chose to.