Belle and Sebastian want to pay tribute to Canadian legend Leonard Cohen

MONTREAL – Scottish indie pop band Belle and Sebastian had a few other things on their agenda besides playing at the Montreal International Jazz Festival on Friday.

They wanted to pay homage to legendary Canadian poet-singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen while they were in Montreal.

“Where should I go to pay homage?” guitarist Stevie Jackson asked media assembled for a news conference before their show. “Is there an address or somewhere he used to live or a bar he used to drink in?”

Reporters and festival organizers mulled it over and suggested a few spots on the Main, a fabled district where the smoky-voiced ladies man hung out.

Asked if Cohen had had an influence on the band, which has been compared to the Smiths and Bob Dylan, vocalist Stuart Murdoch was effusive.

“Well, he’s just terrific,” Murdoch said. “He’s one of the greats, isn’t he? As a lyricist and a poet.”

He said one of Cohen’s poems had given him an idea for a bit in their Montreal show.

“I was walking around Westmount and I looked at the posh houses and it reminded me of when I watched a CBC program from the ’60s with Leonard Cohen, when he was mostly just a poet.

“He was walking around talking about the rich man with his opera tickets and the industries which serve his wife’s complexion and the baseball players feeding their bodies with sleep. This poem had a nice effect and when I walked around today, I realized I recognized some of the houses so we might do something with that.”

At that point, Jackson leaned in and said, “The answer’s yes.”

Belle and Sebastian were formed by Murdoch and Stuart David in 1996 and have received consistent critical acclaim although commercial success has been limited.

Their second album, “If You’re Feeling Sinster,” was included in Spin magazine’s list of the 100 greatest albums between 1985 and 2005 and is generally considered their masterpiece.

Murdoch said punk was a huge influence on the band’s sound.

“We came after punk and that’s the big thing in music, for me anyway,” he said.

“Punk changed everything, what you could say through music, your lyrics, how you could relate to the person who’s listening. It’s not them and us anymore. We’re on an equal plane.”

The band hinted that there could be a new album next year, which would be their first since 2010’s “Write About Love.”

“Hopefully,” said keyboardist Sarah Martin. “We’ve not started actually recording it but we’ve got a few songs coming through.”

The band is scheduled to release “The Third Eye,” its second compilation on Aug. 26 in the United Kingdom and drop it on this side of the Atlantic a day later.

“That’s the reason we put out our compilation, is we haven’t written any new songs,” said Murdoch. “We’ve all been off doing other things.”

He acknowledged the band’s focus for song subjects has changed as the members get older.

“You can’t write too many songs about fledgling love affairs,” he said. “In fact, the head of our record label said, ‘Don’t write any more songs about fledgling love affairs. We’ve had enough. You ought to know what to do by now.’

“I just had a child so maybe I’ll write some ‘daddy’ songs. I was thinking the other day, actually, are there any good songs about offspring?”

The bandmates said they felt it was a good idea to take a break — something their label encouraged — and do something different because they’re reinvigorated now that they’re back together.

Murdoch likened going through the band’s catalogue to flipping through an old family photo album.

“You’re like, ‘oh, no, no. But I like that one!'”