Scottish New Music Round-up: April 2022

The end of March saw new music and announcements from Gentle Sinners (James Graham and Aidan Moffat's new band), Phillip Jon Taylor (PAWS), AMUNDA (Bossy Love), Lizzie Reid and Dead Pony and April is also packed to the gunnels with new releases.

One of the records we’re most excited about comes from Glasgow supergroup Jill Lorean, featuring Jill O’Sullivan (Sparrow and the Workshop, BDY_PRTS), Andy Monaghan (Frightened Rabbit) and Peter Kelly (The Kills, Jonnie Common). The trio release their debut album, This Rock, on 1 April via Monaghan’s own Monohands Records label. It's ten tracks which place O’Sullivan’s voice front and centre as she documents “motherhood, memory, human nature and grief to some degree”.

As well as O’Sullivan’s always astounding vocals, This Rock is filled with infectious choruses and an abundance of hypnotic drums, strings, and bass and guitar lines; it is atmospheric and utterly engrossing from start to finish.

Next up, Swiss Portrait is the musical project of Edinburgh-based artist Michael Kay Terence, who writes and records all of his music in his spare room, such is the DIY ethos of his practice. On 25 April he's set to release Safe House, his latest EP as Swiss Portrait, and it is the most summer-ready collection of tunes we’ve heard in a long time – dream pop at its finest with sparkling guitars, catchy refrains, handclaps in all the right places and gorgeous vocals throughout. 

What’s more, there’s a softness to Kay Terence’s voice that feels as if you’re almost viewing the music through sunglasses; each song feels like a warm, hazy mid-summer afternoon. You can almost smell a sea breeze, fresh cut grass, sun cream. Safe House is the perfect soundtrack to warmer days, summer holidays, road trips with pals, trips to the beach and garden gatherings, and if the weather’s shit outside, Safe House is sure to transport you to where you'd rather be.

Following the release of his collaborative Lost Routes album in 2020, Edinburgh-based rapper Conscious Route returns with another collaborative effort, this time working alongside producer Scott Bathgate to release Pyramid, which sees Conscious calling out the government, exploring life’s struggles and the highs and lows of relationships. Due for release on 7 April via True Hold Records, the EP sees Conscious and Bathgate masterfully melding classic hip-hops beats with grime, dancehall, afro-pop and electronica, with features from the likes of Sean Focus and Kryptik.

From hip-hop to trad, Edinburgh party band Yoko Pwno also return this month with Part Machine (8 Apr) via Iain Copeland's Skye Records. The album is inspired by everything from our reliance on technology to groundbreaking female swimmers via Leith watering holes, and musically it's just as diverse. With their trad influences not solely fished from the shores of Scotland, and their beats mined from disco, house, drum’n’bass and more, we’d say Yoko Pwno should be high up your agenda should you find them on a festival bill near you this summer.

Shortly after The Spook School went to the moon, the band’s drummer Niall McCamley returned as a mental health-fighting superhero going by the name Squiggles. His mantra? "You are not alone. You are a Squiggle. Together we are Squiggles. Squiggles is not a band. Squiggles is a cult.” Three years on, Squiggles releases his debut EP, Look What We Have Done (2 Apr) via Alcopop! Records. Its four tracks, which race by in just over 11 minutes, take you on an upbeat, rambunctious emo romp, featuring mosh-worthy drums, grungy guitars, pleasingly discordant lead vocals and sublime backing harmonies.

A common topic being explored these days in music is the climate crisis. Just last month Steg G released his urgent collaborative album Surface Pressure, while this month the latest response comes from Glasgow-based multi-instrumentalist and composer Duncan Sutherland, aka These Southern Lands, who incidentally has a PhD in Renewable Energy.

By combining his musical knowhow with his knowledge of the natural environment – and working alongside talented sound artist, musician and composer Kim Moore, aka WOLF – Sutherland has created a beautiful collection of songs, which more than a few times bring to mind the indie-pop joy of US supergroup The Postal Service. But there’s more to Midnight Oil (8 Apr) than that, as it genre-hops over the course of its ten tracks, combining warm synths with classical elements. Some parts feel like you’ve been sucked into a Broadway musical, while others bring together beautiful found sounds and ethereal ambient soundscapes, never sounding trite.

The biggest release this month comes from 2015 SAY Award-winner Kathryn Joseph, whose third album, for you who are the wronged, arrives on 22 April via Rock Action, while Glasgow’s Walt Disco release their debut, Unlearning, on 1 April via Lucky Number. Also on 1 April, West Lothian’s Megan Black releases Deadly Is the Woman, Teenage Fanclub release I Left a Light On (4 Apr), before Edinburgh-based producer Ravelston releases a six-track mix of cosmic and Balearic beats via Paradise Palms Records (8 Apr). On the same day, Edinburgh's Astroturf Inspector releases his debut album My Bones Are Singing on Leith label New Teeth, while later in the month Glasgow-based Rebecca Vasmant releases her Dance Yourself Free EP for Record Store Day on 23 April.