One of the most elusive figures in modern pop band music, Stuart Murdoch, frontman of Belle and Sebastian, has revealed his faith in God and its impact on both his song-writing and life.

|PIC1|Murdoch is the 37-year-old singer/songwriter of the band that formed in an all-night café in Glasgow in 1996, before going on to win critical acclaim for a number of LPs and EPs, including “If You’re Feeling Sinister” and, their biggest hit yet, “The Boy With the Arab Strap”, which hit the charts at number 12 before making a sudden disappearance.

When asked in an interview with Peter Ross for the Scottish Sunday Herald whether his song-writing talent was a gift from God, Murdoch replied: “Yes, absolutely.”

“I think if you have a gift for anything, it’s a gift from Heaven, a gift from God. If you do anything good, that’s where it comes from.”

The church and his Christian faith have also both played a big role in the life of the Belle and Sebastian leader, his voice having benefited considerably from singing with his church choir.

|TOP|Having attended church since his childhood, it was not until his recovery from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, contracted while studying physics at Glasgow University, that his faith and song-writing really began to develop.

“Songwriting accompanied my coming back to real life. Spirituality and songwriting were my crutches,” he said.

And although religious references have often made an appearance in Murdoch’s songs, it is only now that the 37-year-old is feeling better able to state his faith in music, noticeably so in the song If You Find Yourself Caught in Love.

“I think there has been a coming together,” he says. “In the church you get up and proclaim spiritual beliefs and sing songs to the Lord. I would never have done that so overtly when the group started, but as I have grown older, I’ve thought, ‘What the hell, I feel that way, so let’s do it’.”

|QUOTE|Murdoch, who once worked as a live-in janitor, has also become the source of attraction at his church for the odd foreign fan every now and again.

We get couples from Japan and America putting their nose round the door. It’s nice, and the people in the church like a bit of fresh blood around the place,” said Murdoch.

“Visitors come from all over and some of them have chosen to stay. There is a girl called Andrea who came to see us in Toronto, and got up on stage with us and played one of her own songs. Then she ended up moving to Glasgow. She was sitting beside me in church this morning, singing tenor.”

“Funny Little Frog”, the first single to be taken from Belle and Sebastian’s new LP, “The Life Pursuit”, goes on sale Monday.