New Blood: The Boy Who Trapped The Sun

"I've lived in a bunch of places but always seem to end up home again." Put simply in his own words, this sentiment – that longing for familiarity – is one which permeates the music of Stornoway native Colin MacLeod, AKA The Boy Who Trapped The Sun.

"Living on Lewis has always been a really important thing for me," says MacLeod of his pastoral homeland. "It's just such a unique place and has a weird effect on you, it's so wild and barren – it really lends itself to atmospheric music. I love driving around listening to Mogwai or Sigur Rós, just enjoying feeling like you're on the edge of the world. Lyrically and musically it's pretty much shaped my sound."

Before moving to the mainland and eventually courting such bustling metropolises as London and eh, Aberdeen, MacLeod spent his late teens/early twenties cutting his teeth at his local in Stornoway, where he helped run regular open mic nights. Over the course of these intoxicated Thursday evenings, he honed his craft, lending his pipes to classics from the likes of The Lemonheads and The Who to Deep Purple and the late Jeff Buckley.

"I've always been a big Jeff Buckley fan and loved the idea of him sitting in Sin-é in New York, playing for the punters, everyone half listening and him learning his own voice," MacLeod admits. "It seemed like a really important thing, to work on my singing and playing, even interacting with a group of people. It was an education really, and if you can handle a bunch of Stornoway lads haranguing you for Oasis songs then you can handle anything."

Since then MacLeod has been turning his hand to his own material; a mix of slow-burning, country-tinged acoustic odes to love, loss and homecoming, daubed in subtle strings and a voice recalling the subtle dreaminess of Lou Barlow and Elliott Smith, with nods to the passionate swells of the aforementioned Mr Buckley. In between nationwide jaunts and frequent periods holed up in his London bedroom, MacLeod's creative efforts have since spawned a four track EP – aptly titled Home and released earlier this year – which precedes a debut album this summer.

Drawing from a kaleidoscopic range of influences, the sun-trapper has been the focal point of increasingly positive critical chatter. As a result, MacLeod – now with full band in tow – will be glued to the open road over the summer, tying in with the LP's anticipated release in July and undergoing the obligatory festival run in the process.

This hefty schedule looks to present ample opportunities to see what MacLeod does best, though ultimately, it's a welcome break for this city-dwelling Islander-at-heart: "It’s nice to have an escape from London," he says, before clarifying the point: "If I couldn't escape the big city now and again I'd probably go nuts."