At some point in the mid to late 1990's, a select few musicians rediscovered the gentle campfire folk the likes of which Simon and Garfunkel perfected decades earlier. It wouldn't be until the earliest days of the new century that anyone would call this resurgence relevant, though. After the sunny, increasingly electronic sounds of the 90's wore thin, audiences became receptive to clever souls with acoustic guitars, many of whom recorded in their living rooms a la Nick Drake. All of a sudden The Shins, Iron & Wine and Wilco were appreciably big. Perhaps the most important and one of the earliest examples of this movement is Belle and Sebastian, a bunch of Scottish kids who practically invented twee.

• She's Losing it

• Electronic Renaissance
• I Could Be Dreaming
• I Don't Love You Anymore

In 1996, a couple guys from Stow College in Glasgow named Stuart Murdoch and Stuart David got the chance to record a few of Murdoch's songs on the school's Music Business label Electric Honey. The result was the album we know today as Tigermilk. Being an academic label, the album only got a limited release of a thousand copies. The other umpteen copies found their way into fans' hands when Jeepster Records re-released it in 1999. Tigermilk is as fitting an introduction to Belle and Sebastian as one could want. It hits a lot of the styles the band would explore in greater depth on subsequent albums and it's a firm argument against the suggestion that Belle and Sebastian is a downer.

• Seeing Other People
• Like Dylan in the Movies
• Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying
• The Boy Done Wrong Again

Belle and Sebastian's larger debut came later in 1996 with If You're Feeling Sinister, all in all the best tracklist of the band's early work. "Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying" is the closest thing they had to a proper single, though the many EPs Belle and Sebastian have released over the years haven't really contained much radio fodder. This album did (somewhat unfairly) cement Belle and Sebastian into the image of the quintessentially twee indie band. Sure, most of Sinister consists of a warbly-voiced 20-something singing about loneliness and such, but there's also an ironic streak, not to mention some nice layering in the recording process. Make no mistake, this isn't the skinny boy humming to himself in a college dorm, this is real independent pop.

• Beautiful
• Lazy Line Painter Jane
• Photo Jenny

Among the aforementioned EP releases there are a few songs that probably should have made it onto an album but for whatever reason have remained in that completists-only limbo. "Photo Jenny" is particularly stunning, combining B&S's trademark acoustic sound with a smattering of other styles, including hints of gospel and even some surf rock.

• Sleep the Clock Around
• A Space Boy Dream
• The Boy With The Arab Strap

The Boy With The Arab Strap went gold in the UK, but looking back it's half of a slump for Belle and Sebastian. I only say half because "Sleep the Clock Around" is effectively perfect, mixing acoustic guitar, brass horns and synthesizers to make something that sounds both organic and very modern. Beyond a few stray gems, Arab Strap is when Belle and Sebastian start to sound bored with the style they pioneered.

• Waiting for the Moon to Rise
• Don't Leave the Light On Baby
• Family Tree
• There's Too Much Love

2000 saw the release of Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant, the last Belle and Sebastian album that would feature Stuart David. Just as Arab Strap was the band getting bored, Peasant was their trepidation to go in a completely different direction. There are a lot of guest vocals on this album, most of them female, so while it's not as dense a collection of great songs as previous albums, it's at least a breath of fresh air. "Don't Leave the Light On Baby" is surprisingly groovy and "Family Tree" benefits greatly from Isobel Campbell and Stevie Jackson's duet.

With Stuart David's departure, Belle and Sebastian would finally get the umph to plumb some new musical depths. It's an age-old story, the lineup change that inspires creative change. We'll take a look at Belle and Sebastian's career from the past decade later this week.