Critically acclaimed Scottish band, Belle & Sebastian have gained a vast and dedicated following worldwide. Voted the “Best Scottish Band Ever” in a much -publicized List Magazine readers’ poll and nominated for both the coveted Mercury Prize and Ivor Novello Award, they continue to produce imaginative and unique work while raising the standard in pop music.

In 2005, frontman Stuart Murdoch begun a side project that promised to generate great interest. Like most of B&S’s songs, this new project began with a tune in his head. Only this time, there was a girl singing.

The song was called God Help the Girl. Backed by sweeping harmonies and intricate arrangements, her pitch-perfect voice danced around the notes like a butterfly.  Over the next few months she sang tune after tune in Stuart’s head…and she wasn’t alone.  Soon, Stuart had written an album’s worth of songs sung by a mostly female-led group. He set out to find the faces behind the voices. 

This film is about what happened next, told through a series of intimate & insightful interviews and fly on the wall filming of writing sessions, band practices, auditions, and recording sessions.

It wasn’t long before Stuart realised the songs came together to form the backbone of a narrative script. Amidst making Belle & Sebastian’s 7th LP, Stuart was auditioning girls, writing a script and thinking about the musical film that he was going to make someday, and set in his beloved city of Glasgow.

Our documentary began filming in 2005, as soon as that first ad looking for ‘a girl who had a way with a tune’ went out.  Girl Singer Needed follows Stuart on an incredible journey of that first tune, and how it led one of the most acclaimed lyricists of our time to a song, a singer, a story and finally, to a musical film.