The Skinny's Scottish Albums of 2019

#10 Savage Mansion – Revision Ballads [Lost Map, 15 Feb]

Coming on the back of a series of well-received singles, Revision Ballads’ 12 tracks cover an impressive amount of ground, from smart ass power pop to grubby, loud and loose rock'n'roll. [Max Sefton]

#9 Rev Magnetic – Versus Universe [Rock Action, 10 May]

Listening to Versus Universe feels like submerging yourself in a fully formed consciousness, in all its chaos. Within a single song, swirling dissonance can turn to breathtakingly beautiful eastern strings, morph into jittery IDM drum programming by way of Japanese ambient [...] only to surprise you once more by crashing into skyward shoegaze. [Tony Inglis]

#8 C Duncan – Health [FatCat Records, 29 Mar]

Throughout Health, C Duncan intermittently revisits his characteristic mesmerising, melancholic tone. But there’s something different: as well as a maturity in production, Duncan’s subject matter has developed too [...] as his lyrics turn to topics of communication, sexuality and anxiety. [Amy Hill]

#7 Sacred Paws – Run Around the Sun [Rock Action, 31 May]

Run Around the Sun is an unrelenting, fast-paced doubling down on its energetic predecessor Strike a Match [...] with cartwheeling bass, carnival drums and intensely hooky Afrobeat guitars. [Tony Inglis]

#6 Bossy Love – Me + U [self-released, 31 Oct]

Me + U is a glossy pop stomp, frontloaded with some of the year’s most infectious jams [...] There’s no doubting Bossy Love’s ability to craft a pop curio that delves into 90s R'n'B and mid-00s electro; flitting between the contemporary and the nostalgic. [Max Sefton]

#5 Honeyblood – In Plain Sight [Marathon Artists, 24 May]

On Honeyblood's third album, Stina Tweeddale wrestles full control to create a pop record that is most comfortable slinging around in the sludge and dirt [...] but someone’s on the sharp end of Tweeddale’s slings and, to be honest, it suits her. [Tony Inglis]

#4 Meursault – Crow Hill [Common Grounds Records, 21 Jun]

Crow Hill is Neil Pennycook’s most vibrant, ambitious and remarkably cohesive record to date, fusing the best of his past releases with something unequivocally new [...] and offers a sublime tonic of sorts for these bizarre and frustrating times. [Fraser MacIntyre]

#3 Callum Easter – Here or Nowhere [Lost Map, 5 Apr]

Callum Easter’s much-anticipated debut album Here or Nowhere is infused with a sense of profundity, although half of the time it’s hard to put your finger on where it comes from. His lyrics are almost prophetic at times, at others achingly vulnerable, but constantly captivating. [Amy Hill]

#2 Anna Meredith – FIBS [Moshi Moshi, 25 Sep]

On FIBS, Anna Meredith has established an album that’s maximalist yet intricately composed [...] Yet, though FIBS skips swiftly between moods and sounds, Meredith’s innate ability to bring these parts together into a collection that’s both bursting with compositional creativity, while still maintaining its own sense of cohesion and an accessible edge, inspires awe. [Eugenie Johnson]

#1 The Twilight Sad – It Won/t Be Like This All the Time [Rock Action, 18 Jan]

The Twilight Sad's fifth album is heartbreaking and heartwarming, specific in detail and inclusive in scope. But, more than anything, it's honest [Lewis Wade]
Read our full appraisal of the album, from our December issue, here.

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Note on methodology: We asked each of our music writers to pick their top three Scottish albums of the last year, with 3 points awarded for a first-place vote, 2 for second, and 1 for third. We then compiled those points totals to generate this top ten.