Album Review - Hector Bizerk - The Waltz of Modern Psychiatry

This year has definitely been another great year for Scotland's favourite alternative/ hip hop groups, Hector Bizerk.  They have continued to go from success to success, leaving everyone asking can they do no wrong?  The unique blend of musicality, incredible percussion and cleverly written lyrics is what makes Hector Bizerk stand head and shoulders above other bands of the moment.

After the buzz surrounding their last album Nobody Seen Nothing  and their series of EP's released throughout 2014 and 2015, Hector Bizerk took a bold decision to release their latest creation, The Waltz of Modern Psychiatry,  as a complimentary soundtrack to the stage play Crazy Jane. 

The album begins with an incredibly well written instrumental track Overture for Jane.  This piece of music conjures up the imagery of an old fair ground complete with with an accordion and piano.  From there it's straight into the title track of the album which begins by sounding pretty sinister thanks to some lovely percussion courtesy of Audrey Tait, and a beautifully gentle guitar.  Frontman Louie builds his rap alongside the dramatic build-up of the instrumentation and the lyrics tell a story of people struggling through their day to day trying not to crumble under life’s pressures.

Dr. Charcot  as you might expect from the title, tells the tale of a character called Dr. Charcot and his views on society and human behaviour.  The lyrics are incredibly well written, although we would expect nothing less from Louie, and musically, this track has one of those bluesy chilled out beats that you can’t help but move your head along to.

Welcome to the Nuthouse  has to be my favourite track from the album.  This track is written as a commentary of someone taking a tour of 'the nuthouse'.  It is so cleverly written and inspires great imagery as you imagine all the scenes being described to you.

Escape to Dreamland  is another standout, which begins with a spoken piece which sets the scene for the whole song, describing an amazing dream land, where you can see people who are no longer with us and crowds are enjoying euphoric moments and everything you had always dreamed of comes true.  It goes on to describe the tale of a female and what she can see in this dreamland, and all the while the music is so atmospheric and builds throughout the middle of the song and then fades towards then end leaving just a voice as it began.

In contract to the previous track, The Salpetriere  begins with lively music and a very catchy beat.  There's a similar sinister feel to the title track of the album and the drums and percussion on the track are second to none.  Moving swiftly on, According to the Pervert  tells the story of a girl dancing in a club and how the males in the room perceive her and are completely transfixed by her actions.  It's a track which is key in demonstrating the range of influences Hector Bizerk can showcase, with more of a rock feel to it in comparison to some the more bluesy tracks on the album.

Yes, I Do Have Autism  has quickly become a fan-favourite and it's easy to see why.  An extremely well written track, told through the eyes of someone who has autism and what is going through his mind and the anxieties he is facing in day to day life.  Complete with a catchy chorus and a great beat and you've got yourself not only a great song, but an anthem.

Penultimate track En Pointe  is a very chilled acoustic affair which tells a collection of stories of all different people who may be struggling or misunderstood.  It's a nice change of pace as the album draws to a close with They Told Her She Was Crazy.  The closer delves into one female's incredible story about fighting to succeed and battling against other people’s expectations of her.  The percussion on this track is amazing and really has you marching along to her beat.  The lyrics and instrumentation on this track are spectacular, with the band maintain such a high level throughout the whoe album.  .

- Martina Salveta

Hector Bizerk - The Waltz of Modern Psychiatry  is out now and available to buy on CD here.

Album Review - Best Girl Athlete - Carve Every Word

For those of you unfamiliar with Best Girl Athlete (aka Katie Buchan), as I was prior to having the privilege to absorb their new album Carve Every Word  in all its splendor, describing this delightful work as simply folk music does it scant justice.  Released back in March this year on Fitlike Records, her debut album plays with themes, styles and genres and whilst mixing songs written by her father Charley Buchan with her own compositions, a collaboration of musical talent delivers one of the most refreshing and welcomed sounds to the Scottish music scene in 2015.

Listening to the voice which narrates some of the themes of these songs; reflecting on love, loss betrayal and faith, you would be forgiven for comparisons to Laura Marling, Aimee Mann and indeed Kate Bush, and some of her native contemporaries such as Rachel Sermanni and Siobhan Wilson.  This is testimony indeed to one so young.  With a voice which has a warmth and clarity of delivery, soothing and at times quirky and singular, it will be interesting to follow the development as her career flourishes, as it no doubt will.

The album has a mix of memorable choruses and melodies, in All That  – “All that you know comes from the books that you read, and all that you read from the things that you know”- to the folky and instantly memorable Leave It All Behind  which utilises some rather fetching glockenspiel accompaniment in this folk anthem.  There are some haunting patterns woven on Several Lonely Minutes  which although at times is both aloof and distant, is never un-engaging and demands attention to the very end, to the gothic and sorrowful strings of Talk,  so beautifully constructed and lyrically both engaging and mature, Best Girl Athlete lays down a fine musical platter.

The album, as a complete piece of work offers much more than any tentative prototype might do, it has a depth which is discovered on returning, and it has sufficient body and substance to ensure that the listener will indeed return again and again, discovering more each time.  The opening track Winter Sun  establishes the mood perfectly.  It's simplicity and punctuated and understated melody a throwback to the indie folk musings of Young Marble Giants,  and no finer a compliment can be offered.  By far the most populist tracks on the album is Seven Seconds,  following the now established format of the previous nine tracks with a rhythmic nodding back beat and gloriously hypnotic guitar picking, the upbeat and engaging intro suggest that a singalong crowd-pleaser is born.

But it is the contrast in songs, which admittedly on first listen is not as forthcoming, however with every listen to this collection, the pairing of such opposites as On My Own – an almost traditional folk song from the Pentangle mould, beautifully sung and with smothering guitar picking, and He’s Calling Me Over  which appears from left field and disguises itself in string arrangements which sucker you into believing you know this song already (the first line disguising itself as another song), but of course you don’t and something new is born.

The penultimate track on the album Poppy, What Have You Gone And Done?  is both haunting and unnerving, with layers of stark and echoing vocals, we are never quite sure what tragedy has occurred and probably quite relieved that it is left unsaid.  And within its depths we here many others.

And as a closer, This Time  is a gem.  Strings, light percussion and guitar work a beautiful backdrop together whilst Katie’s soaring sorrowful vocals are utterly compelling.  Placed perfectly in the order of play, this song demands you return to the start for one more listen.

For a first offering, this is a truly remarkable collection from Best Girl Athlete.  Released in the US on the Minty Fresh label and with an American tour forthcoming, all I can see ahead are good things for Best Girl Athlete.  A great debut, we look forward to Scottish gigs in the near future.

-  Bobby Motherwell

Best Girl Athlete - Carve Every Word  is out now via Fitlike Records and can be purchased on CD, vinyl or download here.

Album Review - Pinact - Stand Still and Rot

If you’re at all in touch with the Scottish local music scene, you’ll be aware of the rising number and popularity of noisy surf-gaze, fuzz-pop, insert-obscure-music-genre-here bands.  This is, in part, thanks to excellent local labels like Fuzzkill Records who are reaching out to these young acts and nurturing their talent.  But, if Pinact’s debut album Stand Still and Rot proves anything, it’s that this duo are not just another surf-gaze act, looking to feed off the international fame of fellow Scottish noisemakers such as PAWS and The Xcerts.  No, much more than mere copyists, Pinact are set for great things, and all from their own doing.

With the title track opener, the band refrain from jumping straight into the nitty gritty, instead, opting for a smooth introduction, almost lulling the listener in as singer/guitarist Corrie Gillies proclaims, “If we stand still, we’re gonna rot,” before the chaos inevitably ensues.  With Anxiety, however, it’s no holds barred as the band reveal their true musical identity in the form of pop songs drenched in fuzzy reverb.  The addition of Chris McCrory (Casual Sex, Catholic Action) on drums has done wonders for the band’s music and begs the question, with killer riffs and some heavy, well-executed drum parts, who even needs a bassist?

The main lyrical theme throughout the album is (surprise, surprise) relationships, or rather, the struggles and downfalls of relationships (it’s kind of a package deal).  But there’s much more to it than merely weeping over a broken heart or two.  Corrie does all but serve up his heart on a plate on Stand Still and Rot, lyrically exploring some super dark, sensitive issues surrounding relationship struggles and his own experiences, most notably, with mental health on songs like Anxiety, Scars, Negative Thoughts And Jealousy and closing track Novembore.  At some points, it’s as if he’s invited us to read some of the most private entries of his diary.  There’s a strong sense that Corrie puts a lot of trust in us as listeners to do just that: listen and not judge.  For this, we should appreciate and respect Pinact’s music all the more.

What’s thrilling is how the band execute that fun old juxtaposition of energetic, happy-go-lucky, summery fuzz-pop guitar riffs and Corrie’s otherwise dark, emotional lyrics, something which is evident on songs like Into The One, Brew and standout track Terrapin.  With slower, more bittersweet songs like Limbs, Up Or Down and The Beginning Of The End, where the music doesn’t shroud the lyrics as music, not only do they provide a short respite from the fuzz, but they allow the listener to truly appreciate Corrie’s sincere vocals and honest, confessional songwriting skills.

On the flipside, there’s Spill Yr Guts, Make Some Noise which allows the duo space to go, for lack of better words, fucking nuts on their respective instruments.  The result?  An audible representation of the song title itself.

There’s no doubt that, while Stand Still and Rot is an excellent album, these songs were made to be played live.  The energy and passion is already abundantly present on these studio recordings, but on stage, in front of some equally pumped music fans is where these songs and this band truly belong.  Pinact are already doing exceptionally well in America and, having recently signed with Brooklyn based indie label Kanine Records, you’d be well advised to catch them while you can.  With that in mind, make sure you catch the album launch on May 19th at Broadcast.  It’ll brighten up what is sure to be a rather dreary, lacklustre Tuesday evening.

- Nina Glencross

Pinact – Stand Still and Rot is out on Tuesday 19th May via Kanine Records and will be available to pre-order on digital download and limited edition cassette tape on Bandcamp.

Album Review - The Wellgreen - Grin and Bear It

If you don’t already know of The Wellgreen, it’s about time.  2014 saw original members Marco Rea and Stu Kidd team up with the talents of guitarist/singer Daniel McGeever and bassist Jim McGoldrick when, at last summer’s Indietracks, in the hot, stuffy and packed tin church, the Glaswegian rising stars showed the indie world they are the real deal.  The four-piece’s status as a quality live band was also confirmed by a standing ovation at the packed Cavern Club in Liverpool last May and great things have been expected from them ever since.

Grin and Bear It is The Wellgreen’s second album and it contains all the elements which made the first album, Wellgreen, a personal favourite: groovy 60s psych-pop, the playful melodies of early 70s Macca, Todd Rundgren-esque relationship themes and even the bittersweet, introspective harmonies of Simon and Garfunkel.  When combined, all these influences add up to an album that is what you want to listen to when you want to listen to something good, but from now.

If any differences are to be found between the two albums, one could argue Grin and Bear It is overall bolder and more confident.  Like Wellgreen, it is both emotionally honest and good fun, but with added intensity and unapologetic internal drama – the track Impossible Love is one such example.  These days, a song with such utter beauty is rare. It begins flirty and sweet and then casually pulls off power-ballad intensity, making this just one more reason why The Wellgreen are something special: they clearly do what they want.

Because this is The Wellgreen, even intensity is dished out with delightful harmony.  In Counting All These Moments, longing and soul-searching delightfully intersect and the song is just further proof of The Wellgreen’s knack for easily slipping into your thoughts before you’ve even realised it.

However, it’s not all cerebral.  The first track, Grin and Bear It, is a heap load of rock n’ roll fun and creates the perfect balance between light and heavy which continues throughout the album.  You’ll certainly tap your toes.  You can’t not tap your toes.  It doesn’t end there; another treat is the poptastic track Summer Rain, which includes the guitar talents of Stevie Jackson (Belle and Sebastian).

As with the first album, every song on Grin and Bear It has a touch of the familiar.  But The Wellgreen are no mere retro copycats, they are indie’s (not-so) hidden gem with songs that are relatable, interesting, fun and, at times, absolute ear candy.

Whatever they do, whether it’s a gig or a live webstream, they exude fun and friendliness – in this sense, they fit in nicely with the 60s and 70s vibe they project in their music.  If you are an absolute sucker for simple melodies and two-part harmonies like me, buy the album and go see them live.  You won’t regret it.

- Janet Feenstra

The Wellgreen - Grin and Bear It is out now via the band's own label The Barne Society and is available on CD via Bandcamp and download via iTunes.

 

Album Review - Young Fathers - White Men Are Black Men Too

What a whirlwind year it's been for Edinburgh's favourite sons as their first proper record Dead amazed critics, pleased fans and won some award down in the big smoke.  A lot of bands would see the latter as an assurance that they're doing alright.  They might go off for a few years and work on another record, or ride on the wave of album sales that follow a Mercury win.  Young Fathers have taken their winnings and recorded a brand new record for us, and it's great.  One thing's for sure, don't assume Dead is Young Father's finest hour just yet.

Album opener Still Running announces the album by caving in the wall rather than using the door, blowing heavy electronic dirty pop our way.  The tribal noise marches in with soft peculiar xylophone underneath.  The combination of separate sounds merged into hooky pop songs is a theme that continues throughout White Men Are Black Men Too.

So far we've heard two singles.  Track two, Shame is one of those and it's the first of many on the album which will send crowds into frenzied dancing when the band take this album across the UK next month, especially the exploding glitch towards the end of the track.  Other single Rain or Shine is the album's biggest draw popularity wise and it's a perfect fit into the album's ordering.  The track builds up Kilimanjaro sized with crushing drums, rising synths and vocal 'whoa's which then lead into a Godzilla-esque siren which tears everything in its path.

Loudness on the album is important. Early number Feasting is the closest piece of music to embodying the first beam of light that pierces your eyes when you draw open curtains in the morning, such is its loud bright sound.  John Doe is as close to indie rock as Young Fathers get on this record, with it sounding fairly like a TV on the Radio cut, with a big chorus.

The lyrical content of the record is as creative and powerful as the big sounds on show.  The track 27, plods along like a happy Passion Pit song fell into a mixing bowl of distortion but in truth the track is about the worry of falling into the 27 Club, the name given to brilliant musicians who left us too early.  Sirens is a pause to get your breathe back over the frenzy but it's a song about the band empathizing with family over what sirens mean, normally the worst.

The controversial album title would suggest the album would heavily focus on race, but this is no Kendrick Lamar LP.  Young Fathers do bring up the line, and the idea that Africa gives our Western culture lots of great things, and receives little back, on track Old Rock N Roll.  The band do this by creating a mesmerizing mix of charged lyrics with the gorgeous tribal drums and stringy guitars, to showcase what music Africa has given us.  The African influences stick for a few tracks too.  Nest which features grand piano and Lion King-like chanting in the background continues the African feel, and honestly feels a bit like a Nina Simone tune at times, it feels vintage.  Liberated uses the Leith Congregational Choir again to help with the extra voices and sunny sound.

The album finishes in pretty spectacular fashion too, with Get Started being, as the band describe, the universe getting laid for the first time.  It's certainly a closing four minutes that an album of this magnitude sonically and creatively deserves.

- Scott Hastie

White Men Are Black Men Too is out now via Big Dada and is available on 12" vinyl, CD, cassette tape and digital download here.

Make sure you check out their current UK tour, as you’re not going to want to miss the madness that these songs will bring out in crowds when they’re performed live.  The band play Neu! Reekie!'s #UntitledLive at Edinburgh's Central Hall on June 9th. Tickets available here.

Album Review - Errors - Lease of Life

Errors are Glasgow’s quirky electronic trio.  Armed with their synths, they have been defending the frontline of Scottish electro for nearly ten years now.  The release of their new album Lease of Life sees the band’s first new music since 2012.  A little older now, perhaps a little wiser after extensive touring, their new sounds are richly adorned with worldly influence.

Colossal Estates presents an amalgam of heavenly sounds, laden with sweet strings and choral sound bites.  A determined drum beat builds up, creating some beautiful momentum.  This opener is full of hope and energy, soon warping into a slightly chaotic ending – a promising start and an exciting prologue to the album.

The record’s title track is immediately transcendent, peppered with jungle sounds that create a spiritual sense of adventure with cool layered vocals and fast paced beats.  Spacey synth and even Scottish vibes contribute to the fun amalgam of crazy influences working together to make this exciting and fresh.  The 80s vibe is strong with notable funk – this is a generous feast of sounds, melodies and rhythms that feels alive.

A come down from the chaos, Slow Rotor is chilled and ambient, yet with a quiet majesty from the bold melancholy of the melody.  Build into this fast vocals and atmospheric claps and it creates a headily retrospective feel.  Percussion is used to extend the story with more lovely layered vocals fuelling the emotion and harmony.  The light, hopeful synth at the end feels like a ray of sun.

The album is starting to feel like a wicked 80s jungle with the serious tribal vibes in New Winged Fire.  Determined structure becomes interspersed with tinkling rapid Asian notes and chimes that let you hear the world in a song.

Early Nights isn’t even two minutes long, but the band manage to capture a brief feeling beautifully.  The subdued slow notes take their sweet time; the effect is ultra-dramatic, like a film score or electro-opera.

The mood shifts tangibly with Dull Care, the sombre melody pipes through high vocals, and feels altogether more detached, cold and cosmopolitan.  Errors are masters of mood – the addition of sax soon makes this a jazzy wander through the city at night.  All the while rapid synth bubbles beneath the surface creating a sense of urgency throughout.  Certainly unsettling, this track offers both listening pleasure and pain.

Genuflection’s intro satisfies with pace and catchy claps.  Then the song lets loose into an undulating river of lovely sounds.  The track embodies water – a stream of seriously solid beats that I’m happy to get carried away with.  Jazzy sax is the cream atop of the chocolate fudge cake that this is to my ears.  Whenever this comes on, I want to be dancing.

Asian influences are heard again in Putman Caraibe, where synth melody, percussion and vocals are expertly balanced to create this battle/warrior mood and a real sense of oncoming change.

The final track is a thirteen minute-long gift: Through the Knowledge of Those Who Observe Us is heralded by quiet plucking that dots colour on blank canvas, then a choir of low deep voices splashes warm tones on the piece.  Feelings of celebration, community and unity are augmented by an organ interlude that resonates with the spirituality of the whole record.  Your head is transported to another place, like paradise.  The track fades away beautifully and slowly like a wonderful dream, and thirteen minutes still feels too short.

After listening to this shining new example of an electro record, you will see why these guys have stood the test of time.  Here’s to another ten years of quality music.

- Maura Keane

Errors - Lease of Life is out now via Rock Action Records and is available on double 12" white vinyl, CD and download here.

Be sure to catch them live at the Art School on Saturday 11th April or at Wickerman Festival this summer.

Album Review - Kathyrn Joseph - Bones You Have Thrown Me and Blood I've Spilled

Bones You Have Thrown Me and Blood I’ve Spilled  is the debut release from Aberdeen based solo artist Kathryn Joseph and, despite the sparse instrumentation and fragile nature of Kathryn’s vocal style, it is a powerful, almost soulful album that deserves much attention.

The songs are based around piano sounds that are skillfully produced to sound haunting and fragile and acoustic guitars that add to that mood.  You start off feeling as if more needs to be added to the songs to give them depth but on your second and subsequent listens, it soon becomes apparent that nothing else is needed at all.

The nature of the lyrics, confessional and raw in places marries perfectly to the music, with each song drawing you in, time and time again.  I must admit that, on first listen, I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the album and couldn’t really push through the atmosphere that surrounds each track.  Further plays of the album, and there have been many, have opened it up to me though and each listen is a rewarding one.

Perhaps the best example of how this album works is opener The Bird.  A reverb heavy but beautifully melodic piano line leads into Kathryn’s Joanne Newsome like vocals which lend a real air of emotional fragility to the piece.  The song is simple but fairly stark lyrically and, like many of the tracks here, gives you an indication that there has been recent heartbreak but never tells you the full story.  Her singing style means you don’t pick up everything initially which is yet another reason to revisit the album time and time again.

Other standouts include The Want  and closer The Weary,  but my favourite track is The Why What, Baby?  which is a beautiful centerpiece to the album offering some light and some hope, whilst still retaining the other worldly atmosphere that pervades the record.

There is real beauty on this album and one of its key traits is the simplicity of the songs and that is something that particularly enhances its whole impact. 

- David McElroy

Kathryn Joseph - bones you have thrown me and blood I've spilled  is out now via Hits The Fan Records and can download or purchased on CD/vinyl here.

Album Review - Very Very Small Inclusions - Dispersions

Dominated by a brooding twin-peaked ridge, a small house sits uncomfortably right of centre, and a low-lying rainbow crosses overhead.  The image chosen by the Glasgow-based duo Very Very Small Inclusions (VVSI) for their debut release, Dispersions,  is striking but painfully bleak and is fresh in the mind of the listener as the album opens with modern plainsong. 

Stuttered Silence  is cryptic, dark and slow-paced.  The harmonies are on point and crisp.  The sobering lyrics "lives left bare and cold" and "fresh out of the womb, straight into the tomb" set an early marker that VVSI are not reluctant to touch on darker themes.  Winter Solstice  follows and is equally measured.  Birdsong  acts as the backdrop to a four-four driven bass line and guitar melody that gradually build-up to the verse.  Claps and reverberations are added before the echoing vocal harmonies take emphasis once again.  Two standout moments on this track include a subtle dropped beat halfway through the second verse and the rolling drum fills embedded into the main rhythm. AΔB  serves as one of the album’s highlights.  The changes in key and melody shortly after the two minute mark are stunning and the reverse tape-looping (a recurring technique never over-employed), muted bass, tapping woodclaps and vocal outro are unorthodox and refreshing.

The ticking of a grandfather clock and crackling logs introduce the counterpoint and retro-pop-sounding Fire Fire.  A syncopated punchy rhythm and bass guitar riff act as a lead-in and the accented vocals, not overdubbed and positioned low in the mix, are slightly and deliberately out of synch.  The bass drum is heavier on this track.  Another album high point follows in the form of Cyclonic.  Brass and heavy drum production predominate in this track and the vocals get louder and more urgent as the track progresses.  Degraded  is more indulgent and boasts traditional rock guitar and drum rhythms, which play in a loop.  The open analogue radio samples add a further dimension.

Accelerato heartbeating opens On The Ceiling  and the dark and muffled vocal harmonies are accompanied by an analogue synth. The interspersed polyphony and shoegaze-inspired guitar lend a subtle hint to the listener on the group’s influences.  This track is a real treat for button-pushing technicians as VVSI combine low filters, complex melodies and changing rhythms to dramatic effect.  Sun Shards  is a heavy bass mix which borrows elements from the Detroit and Club House scenes as well as from the all-but-extinct genre, trance (the background bleeping melody is reminiscent of the Russian group PPK).  The vocals work well with the music and the acoustic drum fill halfway is comparable to the French nu-disco duo, Cassius.  Rain Rain  follows and is more melodic.  The drums are the highlight on this track – the heavy tom-toms are complimented by sliding and tapping drum sticks.  The sounds are pure and acoustic and the vocals are airy, background and compliment the strings and nature samples.  The change in key in the track’s latter half (similar to AΔB) serves as a nice link within the album and is noteworthy.

N!  is the final track and a hidden highlight.  The machine-inspired reverse melody is very reminiscent of the early work of dubstep pioneer Shackleton.  This comparison is fully justified by the dark bell effects that surface a third of the way into the song, and then later in a more demonic and rhythmic form.  The vocals are heavily altered and a strong house beat ensues.  The outro builds into a crescendo of guitar, vocals and drums.  The album is then complete.

Dispersions  is not perfect, but it was never meant to be.  Drawing on a broad range of influences, the cross-genre feel and re-examination of certain past-sounds are definitely strong points.  The line "forward’s not the only way", sung on the second track Winter Solstice,  is fitting in this respect.

The themes that surface throughout the album’s length are many and the listener is drawn into opposing worlds of introspection and warmth.  The contrast is deliberate and mirrors the image of the rainbow against the backdrop of the darkened sky.  Rainbows are nature’s visual consequence of science, the product of light rays refracting into water droplets.  The rays reflects internally before refracting out, creating that all so familiar array of colour.  VVSI look inwards throughout and the ideas and sounds that emerge are equally bold and unassuming.

- Andrew Kidd

Very Very Small Inclusions - Dispersions  is out now and is available here.

Album Review - Bronto Skylift - Date With A Ghoul

Who knew that just two guys could create such a ruckus?  It's certainly not a challenge for Iain Stewart and Niall Strachan, who both impressively screech and crash about in Bronto Skylift's Date With A Ghoul.  In fact it's a walk in the park.

The album is the Glasgow duo's second full length album.  Recorded at Chem19 in Glasgow and mastered by Steven Ward, it's the follow up to 2010's The White Crow.

Despite losing the rawness that accompanied their debut, Date With A Ghoul  is a full on heavy record, with comparisons to Nirvana's Bleach  not far from the mark, with the droning simple chord changes on Shark  drawing similarities.  Although, be warned as there’s none of that loud/quiet dynamic carry on.  Your ears are dragged through the record with no rest bite.

There is a little humour thrown in amongst the noise.  For example Shit Hoody  could be about a poor fashion choice or a day trip to the seaside.  Who knows?  The lyrics are indiscernible.

The simple punk ethos is present.  Short tracks with simple chord changes layered with bawling vocals.  The amount of energy Strachan and Stewart cite tires the listener by well, just listening.  A live show is assumingly their weekly work out.

- Holly Callender

Bronto Skylift - Date With A Ghoul  is self released and available here.  Catch the band at Henry's Cellar Bar, Edinburgh on 22nd May.

Album Review - digitalanalogue - Be Embraced, You Millions!

digitalanalogue is a solo project by Ian Turnbull from Edinburgh’s Broken Records and this debut release Be Embraced, You Millions!  is an album that displays a haunting beauty that can’t fail to draw you back time and time again for repeated listens.  Recorded on a mixture of old and new home recording equipment (hence the digitalanalogue tag), the album draws its influence from the last two years of Ian’s life from his “excitement at first time fatherhood and family life” to death of his mother from a terminal illness, with the parts of the song titles in parenthesis offering clues to the various events they are based on.  The mixture of emotions inspired by these highs and lows informs the album’s feel throughout.

Opener Café Royal (Difficult Conversation)  is a beautiful track that begins with a kind of Brian Eno Music For Airports  style piano before elements of post rock guitar work their way in, reminiscent of Mogwai, or Sigur Ros in their more placid moments.  It’s a gorgeous piece of music and a real scene setter for the album.  The piano led tracks are the stand outs for me on this release.  The wonderful Bow Bar (I’m Sorry, I Was Miles Away),  with its slightly treated piano sound redolent of The Caretaker’s haunting albums mixed with the melody of Depeche Mode instrumentals.  Album taster track ID83846 (Don’t Look Down)  too is a wonderful piece of work.

The stand out track, and the one most clearly linked to the personal events that inspired the work is No.99 (I Love To Go A Wandering).  It starts out with eerie electronics, before strings transform it into a heartbreaking piece of music that is interwoven with sampled dialogue of conversations between a father, their child and the child’s grandmother.  It really is quite a breath-taking track and works fantastically well as the album’s centre-piece, musically and emotionally.

The remaining tracks on the album fall more into the post rock category with a collection of drones and loops interspersed with samples and piano parts.  Tracks such as Wapping Road, Bristol (Always In The Right Place At The Right Time)  or London Road (Busy Brain)  providing a counterpoint to the more considered, almost ambient moments on the record.  The album ends on an upbeat note with the magical Creag Ruadh (Keep Going)  which feels distinctly like light at the end of the tunnel.

Be Embraced, You Millions!  is ultimately a very uplifting record and one that you can’t help becoming affected by, even after just one listen.  Superb stuff.

- David McElroy

digitalanalogue - Be Embraced, You Millions!  is out now on Song, By Toad Records either digitally via all good online music retailers or on limited edition 12” vinyl from all good record shops or here.  The vinyl comes in a hand-printed sleeve with photography and writing by Ian himself.  .

Album Review - Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - The Most Important Place In The World

A continuation from the hopeless desolation of young adulthood and the onset of responsibility and childcare; themes which were explored in the award winning collaborative album from Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat Everything's Getting Older;  the duo's latest offering, The Most Important Place In The World,  finds Aidan Moffatt starting a young family and exploring the trials of middle age.

There is humour in all of Moffat's lyrics, but it is usually so dark and hidden beneath heartbreak and guilt that it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.  By comparisons The Most Important Place In The World  is a humourous and joyful album.  From opener On The Motorway  with it's motorway observations; “a gridlock of seven seat saloons scream 'baby on board'..."; to the closing track We're Still Here, which details the demise of a small town; "we watched the florist wilt, and wane, and wither into dust"; the album is full of jokes.

There are touches of past melancholy in track the The Tangle Of Us  but overall the upbeat pop, including some of the most hummable songs of Moffat's career, outweigh that feeling.  Aidan Moffat's spoken word is usually harsh and abrasive.  On this album it seems closer to Rod McKuen or Serge Gainsbourg.

There are as many ideas crammed into every track as ever, but the smooth delivery creates a totally different listening experience.  The track Vanilla,  aside from the lyrics detailing a relationship becoming stale could be the soundtrack to a beach holiday. 

A standout from the album has to be the soul infused Street Pastor Colloquy, 3AM,  which details a journey home from a night out which descends into spiritual debating.  Guesting on the track is The Glad Cafe Choir, and while the lyrics are far from the kind you'll hear from the pews of a chapel, the soulful choral singing, backed with saxophone and piano lends this track a real uplifting feeling.

Alongside the positive message of the album, the instrumentation is slick, with soulful saxophones and brass and tight orchestration.  It's here that the experience and skill of Bill Wells comes to the fore, proving once again that this partnership has much still to offer.  It may stand out from everything else in his cannon but The Most Important Place In The World  is just as enjoyable as anything from the Arab Strap cannon, and indeed his previous work with Bill Wells.

- Peter Johnstone

Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - The Most Important Place In The World  is out now via Chemikal Underground and can be purchased from all good record stores and online music retailers.

Album Review - Supermoon - Oh, Supermoon

By calling the first track of this collection of songs Death to Meursault, we are left in no doubt that Neil Pennycook’s new project Supermoon looks to put to bed that wonderful collective which gave us three albums – Pissing On Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues, All Creatures Will Make Merry and Something for the Weakened – over a 6 year period and a SXSW fundraising sampler The Organ Grinder’s Monkey.  At 21:20 long and comprising of only seven tracks, Oh, Supermoon fits neither the EP nor LP category comfortably, and offers itself as more of a taster of things to come from Neil with some distinctly demo feeling tracks.

Meursault purists will be pleased to know that this selection of songs makes no great departure from the pattern which has been so carefully woven over the years, relying as heavily as ever on Neil’s distinctive despairing and cursing vocals over threads of rich melody and stark accompaniment.

In Death to Meursault’s opening track, we hear an acoustic guitar phrase repeating, revolving and overlaid with Neil’s crying vocals, and then, finding a melody which suits the change in mood, we have a chorus of sorts so typical of his work and so desperate in delivery.  The song opens and the chords dance, and we are at the point of maximum impact.  “…and everything could be so easy,” sings Neil, comfortable in familiar surroundings.

In Klopfgeist, we have as near to a ballad as we can reasonably expect.  Percussive offbeats introduce a crisp piano detail which allows the soft vocals to guide us and soften the tone of the album.  A beautifully crafted song which ebbs and flows and stutters and starts in a truly melodic and off-centre manner.  All the while, the simple melody sounds a mantra for all bereft and abandoned lounge singers out there.

Moving gently on to New Boy a shift in tempo is signalled by a chopping, driving low guitar chord strum, and over finger-picking guitar and piano arpeggios, the telephonic vocal ushers us to sit up and take note with, “Every grain of the sands of time…”  The repetitive and compelling tune repeats, fades and resolves in a fashion we have become used to with Meursault and indeed of Bon Iver too.  Sad hearts indeed deliver sublime songs, this is one such song.

And then to Ode to Gremlin, a track which demands the clearing of the throat before the thump and chime of piano chords set the pace for a hypnotic and atmospheric backdrop of dissonance as the tale is told.  And, like so much of the album, the secret in the tale is in the listening, and in the audibility of and the separation of consonants and vowels.

A distinctively country guitar feel arrives with Oh, Supermoon.  However, the mantra-like lyrics and jarring offset sharps maintain the interest and mystery of a demo which appears, on the face of it, to be in embryonic stage, but is complete in its lack of resolution.

In Supermoon Vs. Black Friday, we have a tale of much more clarity and a balance which sits much higher in the mix than previous tracks.  A thrashing of chorus guitar chords demands a screamed delivery of, “I’m facing south and I’m coming for you”.  A song of self-evaluation, angry proclamation and a determination for rebirth and pained determination.  Just what Neil is a master of, you may say.

A more melancholy guitar motif introduces the final track, A Gentleman’s Guide, and a gentler approach in the vocals, reminiscent of Randolph’s Leap at their most sincere, shows Neil at his most playful.  A folk song in essence, with nods to both Dylan and Jansch along the way.  A fitting and sympathetic finale to the collection.

There is an incompleteness to this collection of songs and a vagueness in message which leaves space for the listener to mould each of the songs to fit his or her own personal bearing and/or want.  As such, it offers something of greater value than any album complete and is confident in its construct.  Another wonderful and enduring collection of songs from one of Scotland’s truly unique talents.

- Bobby Motherwell

Supermoon - Oh, Supermoon is available now on digital download via Bandcamp.

Album Review - Bonehouse - Tomorrow's Worn Out Blue

Those familiar with Scottish Fiction may well be aware of the acoustic offerings of Dundee's Gone Wishing; and if you are not then check out our cassette release with him from last year - *cough cough plug plug*.  Whilst he is not doing solo releases, Owen McLaughlin finds himself with guitar in tow in Bonehouse, a Dundee punk/emo quartet who have been ploughing the furrow for some years now.  With Iain Carmicheal, Sean Arnold, and Lew Skelly; all alumni of previous bands; completing the line-up, Tomorrow's Worn Out Blues  is a debut LP five years in the offing.

Kicking off with intent is Altered Altars  with chiming guitars and pounding drums, and the dueling vocals, one melodic, the other close to shouting.  A rolling drum intro leads into the title track, a hurricane paced roar showcasing the band's punk credentials.

Broken Hearts and Shallow Sympathy  takes the album up a notch.  Outstanding guitar work, which in the bridge leads to shouts of "forget everyone" is complemented by solid bass and drums.  After a frenzied start, there's a lull in the track before the bass begins to build back up exploding again in the track's climax.  Everything good about Bonehouse can be found compressed into this five and a half minute track.

Things are slowed down with Conquistador,  although the half spoken vocals caked in passion prevent this track from veering into mundane territory.  The last half of the song in particular executes some exquisite vocal harmonies, providing a more introspective moment in the album.

There's more fast-slow dynamics at play on mid album tracks A God It Points To  and I am Magnificent, I Am Nothing.  However the best, in my opinion, is saved to last with album closer The Ripples of Hatred.  Splicing samples with archetypical punk vocals condemning racism, it's a powerful track, which vies with Broken Hearts and Shallow Sympathy  for the 'best track' tag.

This LP is a real labour of collective love, not only from the band but from the various DIY and punk labels around the world who have pulled together to ensure it gets the vinyl release it deserves.  Go show your support for their hard work and pick up a copy.

- Neil Wilson

Bonehouse - Tomorrow's Worn Out Blues  is out now via a collective of labels including Wolf Town DIY, Boslevan, Black Lake and Make That A Take Records in the UK, Steady Anchor and Tief in Marcellos Schuld in Europe, and Pint Sized Records in Canada.  The LP can be purchased on pick'n'mix coloured vinyl here.

Album Review - Felix Champion - This Lateral Life

As I listen to the initial one minute and nine seconds of the debut album This Lateral Life from Felix Champion, I am perplexed by the very sound of what I’m hearing. Intro creeps in subtly and elegantly with spoils of anticipation and chimes of their own divergent vibes. And suddenly there it is, Snow Graves grabs you with an almighty force, blasting open with overlapping vocals and chords before the pariah of screams begin, and I’m now assured, Felix Champion are here.

These Four Walls runs with a high intensity and adrenaline filled instrumental behind the somewhat more mellow, and authentic vocals behind it. The volatile nature of both the guitar and drums allows the vocals to drop back, and accompany the music as opposed to taking such a prominent role. The dominance of the instruments carries the track and provides the vocals with further substance and authenticity.

The theme of boisterous and rebellious rock continues into Sleeping Ecstasy as the culmination of raging guitar and anguished vocals results in the listener experiencing a high octane journey of Felix Champion in their intricate prime.

Frenzied guitar is taken to a whole other level during Canyons as Felix Champion’s furiously riled up vocals, and instruments explode in a delirium of post-hardcore prodigy. Stitches encourages the four piece’s Scottish accents to come out to play. Trapped to a degree by the overwhelming American genre, it is a breath of fresh air to hear angry Scottish music, with the same momentum and honesty of its origin.

Like Hunter and Ropes continue to ignite the fire within the band, with raw and pulsating vocals.

It is as we encounter track 10 on the album, French Wine, that I discovered a new side to Felix Champion. The guitar and bass is not only intriguingly complex but amidst the gusts of fury, there is a glimmer of beauty. Something I imagine was not part of the band’s original plan but it’s definitely there, seeping out. The guitar lines are in full force, with the same surge of angst but portrayed with more fragility, rendering it rhythmically stunning.

In the lead up to the final track, Breathe In Breathe Out and Animals provide us with the final moments of the album, not before The Lateral Life.

Felix Champion have sustained their own sound throughout this album, allowing for moments of candour and surprise, but all the while providing the convoluted and bellowing album you would expect from Felix Champion.

Guitars swirl in full rapturous manner, which is met equally by the infectious energy of the drums producing a wave of unadulterated rock. Vocals fade and drown, and the instrumental remains in all its wonderful majestic presence. The culmination of every piece coming together so tightly has resulted in a euphoric anthem.

- Melanie McKinlay

Felix Champion - The Lateral Life is out now on Bloc+Music and is available on CD and download via iTunes, Bandcamp and Soundcloud.

Album Review - Malcolm Middleton and David Shrigley - Music and Words

Combining Malcolm Middleton's atmospheric music with cartoonist David Shirley's blunt humour, the resulting album, Music and Words,  takes you on a surreal and sordid trip.  With imagery encompassing life, death, evolution and the future the album has a gravitas helped by straight-faced BBC style voice over work through out.

It’s the contradiction of the absurd and the serious that this album plays off.  For example, the track Caveman  starts of with a perhaps improvised acapella comedy verse about a caveman looking back at his life and noting that all for all the girls he's known he has, "Pulled their hair, made them moan."  Hilarity then overwhelms the narrator.  The former Arab Strap co-conspirator then treats this prehistoric musing with an electronic after thought.  One of the funniest tracks on the album is diverted into a melancholy introspective direction.

The first track A Toast,  reverts the viral inspirational spoken word songs like the life advice “always wear” sunscreen that was a hit amongst high school leavers a few years ago into a dystopian dirge.  The track plays of the juxtaposition of a knowledgeable respectable person using lots of rude words, the joke being "isn’t swearing funny".

The use of swear words on this album is arguably, over done.  Swearing can work as punctuation or even a shocking punch line but on this album it's used so much it removes all potency from the language and comes across as lazy.  Tracks where the humour does work are where it veers off into more imaginative territory.  Monkeys  for example is another song concerning evolution as well as being funny it is some of the most tender material on the album.

At points Music and Words  tries too hard to be sentimental, songs that might of worked had Aidan Moffatt been involved seem forced.  However the freshness of the music and the moments when the lyrics compliment each other make this an album to experience.

- Peter Johnstone

Malcolm Middleton and David Shrigley - Music and Words  is out now via Melodic Records and can be purchased here.

Track by track review: Michael Cassidy - My Electric Heart

Paisley singer songwriter Michael Cassidy has been a long term favourite here at Scottish Fiction.  He was my first ever live guest on the radio show, the headliner of our first ever Scottish Fiction Presents gig, and more importantly he has been a crafter of wonderfully rich and captivating music for the last few years. 

Which is why it is an absolute delight to be able to say his debut album My Electric Heart  is out now!  An album which brings together many of Michael's well known songs, combining his award winning song-writing with the warming sounds of his band.  Michael kindly put pen to paper to give us a little insight about each of the tracks on the album.

1) Running Water

An upbeat poppy number about drunken stumbles home. This is a fun song to play live and we usually open gigs with it so it had to go first on the album.

2) Battleships

Battleships  deals with heartache and longing that could be considered in a negative light but I've decided to put a positive, and more hopeful, spin on things.  I feel the song has a really uplifting message in it which comes through whenever I sing it and it is definitely one of my favourites from the album to play.

3) 15 Years

This track is my latest single to coincide with the release of the album and I also shot a video in and around Glasgow, showing of some of its most famous sites.  The video will be put up online a couple of days before the album launch.  The lyrics are basically about me asking myself the question how long would I wait for someone who has rejected me, and instead of responding that I would wait 'forever', like quite a lot of other songs, I thought I would put an exact value on it!  And I guess the answer is 15 years haha!  This is big foot stomper though and I always close my set with it, which always seems to be well received by the crowd.

4) The Men Who Stood Beside Me in the War

This short song was written after reading about the experiences of a group of soldiers in war.  I've written the lyrics from the perspective of an old soldier thinking back to the comrades he lost and their different experiences.  I am really very fond of this song and the simplicity of it.  It's also the song that won me the inaugural Gerry Rafferty songwriting prize, which is undoubtedly my biggest achievement to date.

5) Real Love

Real Love  is a really upbeat song that has been described to me as a Glasgow fairytale, which made me laugh.  The title of it is tongue in cheek as it's really a song about a fleeting one night drunken romance and the different feelings that at the time might feel like 'real love' but are different when you wake up.  These are universal feelings that I know a lot of people can connect with.  The track is basically a song about being single, going out, and enjoying yourself.

6) Breath on my Window

A more serious ballad, which is about loss, and the questions you ask yourself in the aftermath of that event.  This song was definitely an important one for me because it helped me address certain issues.  I am really proud of the music and lyric in this song and I think they really complimented each other nicely, helping me get across what I was really trying to say, which is that things will be alright.

7) Dancing at the Devil's Door

A heavy rolling blues number, where the lyrics are about addressing a time in my life where I felt I was maybe going out and drinking a little too much.  In the song I am questioning myself and the different choices I make. Musically, I love the guitar line that runs throughout the song.

8) My Electric Heart

This is the title track from the album and for me it sums up a constant theme running throughout the album.  It's a story of falling for someone quickly and then changing your mind just as quickly.  I remember writing the words to this after swimming in a lake in Vienna.  I’m really proud of the outro section of this song and the strings.

9) Guy Fawkes

My attempt at condensing the story of Guy Fawkes into two long verses and keeping it factually accurate whilst still hummable!  I like to think I achieved that and stayed factual!  Maybe you could play it in schools!  The track also has a canon at the end, which was fun to record and something I have always wanted to have in one of my songs.

10) The Gulf Between

This song deals with the difference between humans and animals and I always pictured the video to this would be me walking through Noah's ark but I'm not sure if I would have the budget to achieve that.

11) Montpellier

I wrote this song on Christmas day and it is a happy song about the start of a new relationship that brings with it a lot of joy but also reveals some darker sides.  I would best describe it as a bittersweet love song because although although the lyrics are happy, they also are wary of the future.

12) Everybody's Scared

I owe a lot to Everybody's Scared  as it's the first track of mine that was picked up by people  It's a song about the ending of a relationship and the lyrics were written the day before I knew it was going to end.  It's a pretty sad song, but does however still have an uplifting feel to it which is something I have been very interested in thematically; having upbeat songs with a sad subject matter.


Michael Cassidy - My Electric Heart  is out on 2nd February via D Set Records and can be purchased all good online music retailers or directly from Michael Cassidy's Bandcamp

Album Review - The Phantom Band - Fears Trending

At first glance, you may be forgiven for thinking that Fears Trending,  the latest offering from The Phantom Band, is a collection of outtakes picked from the cutting room floor; rejects from the acclaimed 2014 album Strange Friend,  thrown together in a shameless attempt to separate those of you so inclined, from your hard earned cash.  And in one aspect you would be correct.  A package of songs, some of which didn’t make the 2014 album - for various reasons, if you listen to what the band have to say - but nonetheless, this is an album in itself, in the true meaning of the word, with an identity all of its own.

Much like The Fall, with The Phantom Band you never quite know what you will get, and that which you expect is least likely to be delivered.  And that is what makes them so utterly compelling.  The contrast between this and Strange Friend  is best reflected in Rick Antony’s assertion that this is their 'dark side'.  And they do dark so, so well.  

From Checkmate Savage  in 2009 to The Wants  2010, then the seemingly endless wait for last years Strange Friend,  whilst solo projects filled the space for some in the band, their fondness for keeping us in suspense and delivering the unexpected, has now become a trademark for Scotland’s most eclectic and creative ensemble.

This release on Chemikal Underground heralds yet another foray into the unknown for the band, and all the time relying always on the familiar.  A sign of a fermenting and unique creativity.  Seven tracks are offered as an album, short on numbers possibly but brimming with depth and variety.

Tender Castle  is a fine opener and an comfortable transition for those familiar with the populist dalliances of Strange Friend.  Punctuated para-diddle drum patterns lay the foundations for sci-fi score keyboards.  A song which builds, breaks and distorts beautifully as you would expect from the Phantoms, and all the time the constant rhythmic tempo punctuated by those familiar crying vocals.  And always a darkness hiding in undergrowth – “And I’ll be watching as you speak”.

Local Zero  displays more conventional in its layout and structure than we have come to expect from them, and a gentler more apologetic vocal, the offbeat musical hook is interrupted only at times to deviate to pure melody followed by Tardis synth and oscillating bass.  Build, repeat and return to the start and go “from the left to the right and back again”

With a horseback headstrong drum rhythm, Denise Hopper  takes us to The Band’s vision of a spaghetti western set in a post-apocalyptic Dali-esque desert, where dancer tango in the searing heat of a flailing, barely audible haunting melody.  One of the strongest tracks on the album, it doesn’t bear thinking that this is a song which 'didn’t make it' onto the previous offering due any lack of quality.  This is The Phantom Band at their uncompromising best.  Oh yes.

On next track, Black Tape,  the somnambulists among you will welcome the dreamlike landscape.  So too the Poe aficionados, with the gothic horror gargoyles pulling the strings backstage to the beat of the military 'onwards' drum rhythm.  Those same gargoyles providing the offstage cries, accompanying the punctuated story.  Suitably soaked in suspense your attention doesn’t falter, but don’t look behind you

Spectrelegs  requires listeners to be ready for the weight of the metal onslaught riff pounding your chest after the beauty of the soft gentle keys lull the security from you.  It drives so hard you may have to curl your toes and grip your seat to gain purchase.  Again, the structure of build/fade/dark/light is utterly mesmerising.

Penultimate track The Kingfisher,  for me, is the masterpiece of the album.  A fine compliment indeed.  I was fortunate enough to see the live rendition of this recently at the Arches gig in Glasgow, such a powerful track which oozes Nick Cave at his Stagger Lee best.  The pounding rhythm from bass/drums/keyboards, lays a foundation which entraps and ensures that YOU WILL NOT TAKE YOURSELF AWAY FROM THIS.  And you cannot.  Even the beauty of the organ frequency, strains to take you to a kinder place but you’re hypnotised, you are with the vocals to the end.  And in the end, Quint breaks through the fade out and reminds us of the horror of the deep with his tale of those ladies of Spain.

And to end, and as gesture of kindness, we are wakened softly from the darkness with the most melodic and fitting end to this album in the form of Olden Golden.  A vista is opened to us, as the cinema curtains extend to show the feature.  A big sky, a rolling landscape of a song and familiar territory for The Phantom Band as they escort us back home, from a journey to the dark side and back.

- Bobby Motherwell

The Phantom Band - Fears Trending  is out now via Chemikal Underground and can be purchased here.

Album Review - Collapsible Mountains - Ribs On Heart

Recently, the Edinburgh based project I Build Collapsible Mountains has been renamed Collapsible Mountains and moved from an inspiring solo act to an exquisite collaboration.  Indeed, after touring around Germany for his third album, the guitarist and singer Luke G Joyce decided to add another member in Sophie Adams.  Adding extra vocals and piano to the new tracks, they worked together in symbiosis on Ribs On Heart, the new and forth album of the band.

The new strength of Collapsible Mountains lies in the combination of Luke's magnetic voice and Sophie's smooth, yet powerful singing.  As a result, Ribs On Heart has a fresh feeling and is a mesmeric trip into the folk, acoustic and lo-fi ascent.

With Endings, the album plunges directly into the vast wilderness which is Collapsible Mountains.  Luke and Sophie sing powerfully in unison, yet it shows a certain frailty.  This track definitely is not an end, but a new beginning.

Laid Plans pleasantly starts with Sophie's enchanting voice and then progressively leaves room for Luke's – a brilliant track where we tend to long for more of Sophie's intriguing singing.  The back-up voice in My Home is pleasing and Luke's singing is full of nostalgia.  The track brings out a familiar feeling and it is perfect to listen to it when feeling homesick.

Thorns is both a rhythmic and a floating track that knows exactly where to stop to catch a breath.  Lights Have Gone Out is the heart of darkness of this album.  A bit gloomier, the folk guitar and the lo-fi dimension are more present.  It is a deep track where it is easy to get lost.

Ribs On heart is a sweet melody highlighted by a few, but necessary voices in complete harmony.  The picking of guitar and the lo-fi effect unveil an absolute moment of both peace and insouciance.  As mentioned in the title, Wee Bit is a short but compelling track of 55 seconds.  It displays the perfect natural setting to be soothed by a wonderful acoustic guitar.

The pace of Hope has been well-thought of, the guitar is heavier compared to the other tracks which makes it even more compelling.  In addition to that, Sophie's spectral voice in the background puts the both final and gentle touch to the track.

In To A Body Beat, instruments and voices are all three in complete symbiosis.  They are part of one and the same profound motion and, by the time Where We Go Tomorrow starts, it is hard to believe it already marks the end of this spellbinding album.

Although, I Build Collapsible Mountains was a resounding success, this both new and brilliant collaboration which is Collapsible Mountains will surely get itself talked about.

- Alexandra Andréoli

Collapsible Mountains - Ribs On Heart is out now via Ocean Market Records and is available on download via Bandcamp and iTunes.

The band will be playing a free gig at the Forest Cafe in Edinburgh today, Saturday 24th January.

Album Review - Belle and Sebastian - Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance

It could be said that Belle and Sebastian have always threatened to write an electronic album, a dance album, and also descend into self-parody, throughout the course of their career.  It's not surprising that they've flirted with those three either, due their long career and enduring success, but also due to their cult status through the perfection of their three album run right at the start of their career.  The worry was that following the five year break between The Life Pursuit  and Write About Love  the band wouldn't come back at all, or that if they did it would be a return like Write About Love,  an album that featured too many listless tracks and too few great songs.

Write About Love  had a problem, and that was it was oddly unfocused for an album titled “about” something so obvious as love for Belle and Sebastian.  They have almost always tackled love right from the start - love of other people, love of yourself, love of a time, or a place.  Stuart Murdoch's charm always lay in the way relatable characters could be conjured in three or four lines, and then be expanded upon through a single verse, twisted and tangled amongst melodies vocal and instrumental hooks.  The love of the early Belle and Sebastian albums isn't just nostalgia either - they're simply some of the smartest and most beautiful pop music ever written.  Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance  manages to allay those fears very quickly upon first listen.  It also surprises as well, something that Write About Love  was unable to do. 

The lead single The Party Line  worried me at first because it was all syntheses up pop and featured a restrained vocal, but it is actually a bit of a curve ball.  The album does feature other tracks that sound like The Party Line;  like Enter Sylvia Plath;  but the albums real strength is that when the band return to their signature sound it’s still with unique changes and experimental additions - very little here sounds like their earlier work on first listen - it is further listens that reveals the canonical nature of the album.

The opener, Nobody's Empire,  does start sounding a little like montage music at first, but once Murdoch's vocals come in the track becomes a Belle and Sebastian classic, complete with Stevie Jackson harmonies and brass band stabs.  It's in the vocal melody that you can feel yourself falling back into the old ways, as these is just something about that reminds me a lot of the bands best work.  It could be the personal story.  It could be the simple stanzas.  It could just be the confidence in which the song climaxes.  Whatever it is, it is a perfect opening track for the album.

Allie  sounds like it was cut from the same cloth as almost all of The Life Pursuit,  or even recent career peak Dear Catastrophe Waitress.  I have been humming the central melody for days since I heard it, and despite it's dark subject matter; "the tricks in your head are a lie"; the song features almost everything that was missing from Write About Love - charm, cheek and fun, and when you realise it's followed by The Party Line  you are pulled in - it's got you by track three.

Enter Sylvia Plath  is another standout track, not for it's length or it's split structure, but that it seems to commit wholesale rebooting of one of the band's greatest tracks - Your Cover's Blown,  from the Books  EP - albeit through a four to the floor style disco stomper.  Infact, I wasn't sure what I was listening to when I first heard this track.  Was that the band losing it?  Or was that them getting it? The one-two in the middle of the album of this and Everlasting Muse  with it's jazz and cossack-style schizophrenia reminds me of a band who are trying everything that they might have considered off base before, and it feels brilliant.  It feels like a big shift in their sound, but a natural one that feels right.  If you're this far into your career you might as well give it ago and this just might be Belle and Sebastian's long threatened 'dance' album.

Stevie Jackson takes the reins for one of the funnest tracks on the album, the wonderful Perfect Couples,  which also seems like a cousin of Your Cover's Blown  with similar instrumentation but a wicked sense of humour.  Ever Had a Little Faith  is classic Belle and Sebastian though, and confronts the idea of faith with a sound teleported from the band's early years.  It isn't all sure footed moves that work however.  Sadly, Sarah Martin is saddled with some of the clunkiest lyrics on the album on The Power of Three,  and tries her best to make "Every time I read the horoscopes I read three" sound profound, and "you could be Holmes, I could be Watson / Every hero, yes even me, has their Moriarty" work melodically and rhythmically.  Stretching at just over an hour losing The Power of Three  would have made a leaner and slighter record.  Martin does have one of the album's stand outs later on with The Book Of You  which has a wonderful bouncing sound and a dirty aesthetic that the band have never came across before.

The most brilliant thing about Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance  is that it feels like a sequel of sorts to Push Barman to Open Old Wounds  with it's out-there moments and tracks that don't sound like anything they have done before.  The squelches of synth and the dancier moments are wonderful.  Belle and Sebastian's best work has always been danceable, but now, here, they've embraced it and it's worked remarkably well.  It's 2015 and 19 years since the release of Tigermilk  and this stands up there as one of their best records since then.  They've found new strings to their bow, new sounds and a new verve that was arguably missing from their recently recorded output.

The album ends with Today (This Army’s for Peace),  a slow and down-tempo slice of perfection, and one of the best songs they have ever done, and a perfect way to end an album full of unpredictable shifts, turns, and diversions.  This is 21st Century Belle and Sebastian; not quite 20th Century Belle and Sebastian, but then who could be?

- Mark Shields

Belle and Sebastian - Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance  is out now via Matador Records and is available from all good record shops and online music retailers.

Album Review - Sound of Yell - Brocken Spectre

It is rare for me, upon reviewing an album, to happen upon something that suddenly realigns everything into making sense; something that corrals the strands of thought that a record conjures into a single unified theme that re-frames the experience.  But after several listens of the densely populated Brocken Spectre  by Sound of Yell, aka Stevie Jones (alumni of El Hombre Trajaedo), I started to do some light reading of the PR notes.  It was during this research that I discovered that the title is a term for the halo crested shadow cast by hill climbers on clouds when lit by the sun (as a keen munro-bagger something I've seen a lot of) and it seems to be the perfect title for the album.

What you'll find here on Brocken Spectre,  released via Chemikal Underground, is a impressive selection of instrumentation and contributing artists crafting songs dense with ideas and plot that it will take several listens to take apart.  Jazz and folk influences are everywhere, with loose feeling structures and an ebb and flow not unlike the grandest post rock, the album is entire stripped back to the bare bones, and is fiercely warm for it.  You can here the shuffling along the fretboard and the shifting of stance on a drum kit.  This adds to the experience of listening to the record either through headphones or through your speaker system.

There is a story within each track too told via wonderful interplay between guitar, drums, piano, strings ripped to the edges of their strength, and breathy vocals low in the mix, like on Iguacu,  with its deep rolling rattle free snare and woodwind floating along.

Jones, like his ex-band mate RM Hubbert, has roped in some impressive guest musicians for the recording of Brocken Spectre.  The most enchanting being the vocals that appear on the only vocal lead track Caiman  sung by Kim Moore, while Stevie Jackson (Belle and Sebastian) pops up on this track too playing harmonica.  Jones isn't crafting a song per se but instead crafting a story with music.  On the previously cited Iguaca  for example across the eight minutes the song shifts and stumbles in unpredictable fashion with each movement adding to the plot as the disparate parts push against each other.  It is a centerpiece of the record too, as it slowly fades out like embers on a campfire.

The title track is probably my personal favorite on the album however, reminding me on one hand of John McCusker's wonderful Under One Sky  project for its marriage of different folk styles with contemporary structures, but also of a playful jaunt towards the end.

It is probably worth mentioning that this isn't an easy album and one that won't come immediately. Unlike Hubby's success, and Stevie Jones's contribution towards the stunning Aidan Moffat and Bill Well's album Everything's Getting Older,  Brocken Spectre  is an album that burrows away its melodies in powerful structured unpredictability and rewards its listener.  It feels like a secret club - the fretwork is magical; the songs never repeat their style; the production feels worn in not worn out. If you listen, you get it, and welcome to the club.

The title of the album is worth returning to - that halo you see on the hill, a brocken spectre - is a one off.  You can try to arrange it to happen but it is a moment in time and one that is unique.  This album is full of those moments and rewards with each unraveling listen.

- Mark Shields

Sound of Yell - Brocken Spectre  is out now via Chemikal Undergound and can be purchased here.