Scottish New Music Round-Up: April 2026

Waving goodbye to winter might be the most anticipated time of the year, but March was made all the better by a tide of tracks that didn’t make it into last month’s column; check out releases from India Blue (Only Attempt In the Dark), Sonotto (IDK WHATS REAL TNIGHT), The XCERTS (In Your Eyes), pedalo (Hate Me), DOSS (SUPERSECRETAGENT), PINLIGHT (Salt), Pearling (Baby the Clouds Will Miss You) and corto.alto (WHODIS), to name a few.

A worthy record to walk us into the warmer months is songs with james (27 Apr), the new EP by folk singer-songwriter Pippa Blundell. The name is as straightforward as its recording style – all six tracks were laid down one afternoon by Blundell and partner James Mackay. The momentary nature of folk performance is well captured by this grounded approach, and what results is something personal, with two guitars in dialogue, for songs that shine with perspective and imagination. Opener Braemar is a ghostly love story of the artists’ hike over the Cairngorms, where they picture succumbing to the fierce elements together. The fast-strummed Diamond Dolls imagines the life of a dancer at the eponymous Glasgow club: 'Some days you love it / Some days you hate it / And most days the money is decent / You’re built like a diamond / You push it and grind / And life is a pain for the feminine.' 

There are occasional, droning tones that take the EP’s atmosphere from the humanising to the otherworldly – the setlist rounds off with a rendition of ca’ the yowes, a traditional Scottish ballad often associated with Robert Burns, but long-thought to be penned by a woman called Isabel Pagan. The unadulterated adoration the shepherdess of the story has for her farm boy is reimagined as a witchy, sinister enthralment. It’s an impressive, pared-down EP, as temperamental as spring weather and a perfect soundtrack as the natural world comes back to life around us.

If the 27th is too long to wait for your folk fill, catch Where Two Hawks Fly (10 Apr) by Sam Grassie. Since his days in Glasgow duo Avocet, Grassie has perfected his intricate, fingerpicking style, and has stirred in his smoky vocals to achieve 12 tracks of reminiscence and rugged pastoralism. Listen to the fiery fretwork and the drawling chant on The Burning of Auchendoun, or the buzzing slides of Thurso River Blues, for the more oblique references to the London-based artist’s homeland – but the album as a whole is alive with his well-practised and dramatic folk style.

Pippa Blundell. Photo: Genevieve Gates.

Don’t sleep on The Last Light by Isle of Skye duo Valtos (17 Apr), a set of folk-dance tracks that blend atmospheric samples, trad instrumentation and irresistible beat drops. Each of these 14 fusions features a collaboration with artists from all corners of the Scottish scene, from Lucia & The Best Boys to Julie Fowlis. Martin MacDonald of Valtos answers our Q&A in the back of the April mag.

There’s a torrent of projects by known Scottish acts this month – Ultimate Buzz (24 Apr) is the debut album of The Leaving, comprising Martin Doherty and Jonny Scott of CHVRCHES, well worth a listen for its dreamy synth anthems and hard-hitting, cinematic builds. And then on the 27th, The Ghost Dance is the debut album of Haiver, a new project by Frightened Rabbit’s Billy Kennedy. Soulful and sincere rock arrangements chart Kennedy’s journey through grief and towards healing. And check our April reviews for full write-ups on Pictish Trail's latest playful album Life Slime (10 Apr), the eponymous album by indie/alt-rock up-and-comers Bröntes (21 Apr), and Broken Chanter's This Could be Us, You, Or Anybody Else (10 Apr).

As for EPs, Undoing (21 Apr) arrives from SAY Award-nominated Lizzie Reid, which was heralded by lead single Sweet Relief featuring Hamish Hawk. Expect mind-bending guitar solos, distortive effects, and Reid’s sometimes-scowling, sometimes-sugary vocal delivery. Repeat It (10 Apr) is an electro-pop EP by Glasgow-based Pleasure Trail, built of chirpy 8-bit beats, glitchy drum machines and their introspective, exploratory writing on queer identity and intimacy. Grunge artist Wytchwound’s debut EP of the same name comes out on 30 April, inspired by her research into the Fife Witch Trials and the terrible, unspoken violence they inflicted on Scottish women. On 17 April, fans of doom-metal should seek out Actual Bastard by Gout.

On these brighter mornings we’ll be waking up to a bounty of singles. Kohla gives us Starlight (2 Apr), while the 3rd brings singles from Possibly Jamie (2000000Time), Her Picture (The Ram), Justine Beverley (Second Look) and Awful Eyes (Snakes and Ladders). On the 9th, expect Struck from Nick Dow, while Sea Spray arrives from Both Hands on the 14th. On 17 April, psych/surf-punks Maz and the Phantasms drop Pigeon Shat in My Room, Saint Sappho Between the Lines and Big Girls’ Blouse Clean / My House. Finally, Gurry Wurry’s Have You and Doom Scroller’s First Second both land on the 24th – keeping us well-watered until the April showers come to an end.