Scottish New Music Round-up: October 2022

September was another busy month for Scottish releases, of which we missed a lot of in our actual September roundup last month. Our bad. To make up for it, here’s a quick rundown of some of that. Five artists who played our stage at Kelburn Garden Party this year put out new music: Russell Stewart released Align, Kapil Seshasayee released 370, taken from his forthcoming Laal album, Nova released The Cold, a collaborative EP with producer SENGA, Bemz released his Zidane EP, packed with remixes of his bouncy summer banger, and Edinburgh duo Maranta put out their Deux Pleasure EP via Lost Map Records. There were also lovely new sounds made throughout the month from the likes of Midnight Ambulance (Morlich), Disco Mary (Everything’s Normal, Everything’s Okay), Fuzzy (If you want to), Linburn (Red Carpet for the Clouds), Neev (Seawall), Humour (pure misery), Casual Worker (Mousetrap) and No Windows (Shout (Red Song)).

Looking forward to October releases, TeenCanteen’s Carla J Easton and Frightened Rabbit’s Simon Liddell met before the pandemic, almost by accident. Introduced by mutual friends Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee of The Vaselines, Liddell asked Easton if she would contribute some vocals to a piece he was writing for a short film; misunderstanding the brief, she ended up penning an entire song. Realising very quickly that the pair had musical chemistry, they continued writing through the multiple lockdowns granted by the pandemic, and so Poster Paints was born, with their debut single, the shimmering and supremely catchy Number One, arriving in May 2021. A year later, and with little notice, the pair put out their debut EP, Blood Orange, with their self-titled debut album due on 14 October via Ernest Jenning Record Co. and Olive Grove Records.

The record covers everything from not giving up and chasing dreams to teenage love, heartbreak and relationships that are doomed before they’ve even begun. Through thoughtful compositions, big choruses, perfect swells of instrumentation, the poetic nature of Easton’s lyrics, and the warm and fuzzy round the edges delivery of her vocals, the pair make everything sound romantic and hopeful. Poster Paints is a weighted blanket to keep us warm on the coldest of autumn nights. Needless to say, but we're thankful they met.

Twins Rachael and Paul Swinton, aka Glasgow duo Cloth, are set to release their brand new EP this month too. An exquisite evolution of the sound they honed on their self-titled debut album, Low Sun arrives on 7 October via Mogwai’s Rock Action Records. More of the spacious compositions that we’ve come to love from the two can be found here, but there’s an unease across the EP, which feels like it’s teetering in the half light of dusk. When the driving bassline of opener Old Stories comes into view, a wave of catharsis is offered up. The same can be said of the paranoia-inducing Lucid being followed by the title track; a more upbeat song, Rachael’s vocals feel comforting here. There’s a masterful balance found across Low Sun, with bright but eerie and ominous guitars, pulsating basslines and Rachael’s signature breathy vocals combining to create an altogether alluring listen.

Cloth

Landing a much-coveted slot as one of Lost Map Records’ V I S I T ▲ T I O N S artists, Kyle Molleson, who records as Makeness, returns on 7 October with an exclusive four-track EP written and recorded on the Isle of Eigg, and oh man does it sound like he and bandmate Gus Beamish-Cook had a lot of fun. Featuring big euphoric dance beats, trance energy, acid techno and “happy-hardcore meets synth-bagpipe hedonism” (which is how label boss Johnny Lynch describes EP closer The Bin Police, and he is bang on the money), it’s hard not to fall for this.

Also this month, Edinburgh-based instrumentalist, composer and sound artist Daniel McGurty releases his second album, Megaliths (4 Oct); an ambient record at its core, it’s bolstered by breakbeat rhythms and satisfying spasmodic glitches, while a few days later Glasgow pop-punks VUKOVI release NULA (7 Oct). Lewis McLaughlin releases his new Rollin’ On EP (12 Oct) via Monohands Records, featuring new song Rollin’ On alongside new recordings of two tracks (You Tell Me and Summer) from his Feel the Ground You Walk Upon album.

With four of its five songs already out, Alex Amor releases her latest EP, The Art of Letting Go, on 14 October via Young Poet. On 22 October, poet, writer, filmmaker and musician Sean Lìonadh releases his debut EP, I Cannot Go On Reaching, while on 28 October, Amateur Cult’s The Mirrored Pattern comes out, as does In the Lives That Surround You from Ralph Kinsella, which sees the experimental guitarist distort and manipulate layers of guitar into gorgeous, sometimes gently ambient, sometimes scratchy and abrasive soundscapes.

There are also new singles from Declan Welsh & The Decadent West (Mercy, 4 Oct), Hailey Beavis (Anything That Shines, 6 Oct), Pinc Wafer (Fence, 7 Oct), Echo Machine (CAGE, 7 Oct), Whim (Scrolling, 14 Oct) and Linzi Clark (Without You, 19 Oct).