Like Leonard Cohen, Arab Strap deserve credit for creating songs that don't merely sound unadorned; somehow, they sound nude. Their simplicity heightens both their emotional directness and eroticism so that in the end we understand this isn't just another man baring his soul -- this is a man baring all. Nearly every song is told from the point of view of a lover speaking to his beloved. The absence of any third party is so total that some may find these songs too smothering, too dis...  [+]