Scottish New Music Round-up: December 2022

With Tallah taking her knowledgeable hands off of the reins for a few months, there’s a new face covering the Music Now column (me)! Let’s start by looking back at some of the releases we missed last month. Aberdeenshire artist Fiona Soe Paing released Sand, Silt, Flint, a vivid, avant-folk exploration linked to the landscapes of the north-east, and there were EPs from Terra Kin (Too Far Gone) and Billy Got Waves (Rocket Boy 2/3), as well as heaps of smashing singles. Joesef released Just Come Home With Me Tonight, Rosie H Sullivan shared So I've Been Told, Calum Stewart (The Ninth Wave) released In Dissaray as Health and Beauty, Pleasure Pool put out Love Without Illusion, swim school returned with kill you, Redolent delivered extreme mood swings, MEMES released Monday I Looked Like Death, brownbear shared Close Call, and the recent Sound of Young Scotland winner Berta Kennedy released Travel At Peak Time.

Think December might be a time purely for pulling out the cheesy Christmas albums? Think again. We’re especially excited to hear the latest offering from Aidan Moffat’s Nyx Nótt project. Due on 2 December via Melodic Records, film and TV soundtracks are the inspirational epicentre of his latest body of work, Themes From, featuring instrumental compositions intended to identify with varying film and TV genres. “I don't think Nyx has ever heard of Arab Strap,” says Moffat in an accompanying press release, showcasing the stylistic leap he’s aimed for with his latest work. Elements of Moffat’s sardonic humour do carry over into the fun of the album itself however, switching between tracks such as Porno and Swashbuckler like the flick of a remote switch.

There’s a cohesiveness inherent in Themes From that marks a more upbeat shift from Nyx Nótt’s darker debut. But tuning into each instrumental composition, there’s certainly a lot of varying textures to enjoy. From iridescent drum cymbals to squelching sax solos and tender piano melodies, each track is individualistic in its own right. Moffat’s Arab Strap compatriot, Malcolm Middleton, has also gone off venturing into a new side project called Lichen Slow – their debut single Hobbies (released last month) is worth checking out.

From the telly to anarchy, on the same day, Glasgow guitar warriors Shredd unveil their debut album, The Place Unknown. Running a gamut of influences from the likes of King Gizzard to Queens of the Stone Age and Biffy Clyro, this ten-track debut is everything that fans of the band would hope for. Relentless from the first minute to the last, high energy levels are sustained with masses of fuzzy distortion and cacophonous arrangements. 'Are we all brain dead?!' exclaims lead vocalist Chris Harvie on Parasite, illustrating the pent-up anger that’s clearly influenced the aura of the band’s debut. But digging beneath the heavy surface is where the album’s real gold can be found; its soaring melodies and topical lyrics offering ruminations on mental health and an outward-looking ethos shining a positive light among the brooding soundscapes. This is poised to be the soundtrack to the mosh pits of Glasgow’s DIY venues in the months to come.

A. Wesley Chung

Portents by A. Wesley Chung, also due on 2 December, is another album worth adding to this month's listening list. Chung is an American songwriter/musician based in Glasgow. He’s switched one west coast for another – California for Glasgow – and as well as being involved in previous indie-folk bands, Scotland is his new home for his ever-evolving solo material. Essences of Fleet Foxes can be heard in Chung’s work, especially in his neatly layered vocals and the spacey guitars of Sunday Blues, which echo the barren, woody landscape featured on the album’s cover superbly. Other numbers such as the album’s title track offer extra dashes of grit while the seven-minute closing track Lost & Found rounds off proceedings with lush layers and textures melding together meditatively. Couple all of this with the tender lyrical themes on the cycles of death and renewal, the result is a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience.

In the realm of EPs, there are two especially atmospheric releases worth noting. Glasgow avant-garde artist Clair has unveiled a series of remixes of her track Body Blossom to be released on 2 December on limited copies of transparent forest green vinyl. Titled Body Blossom Revelations, each ‘revelation’ offers a distinct, enchanting portrayal of the original that truly invites you to open up your sonic senses. Featured remixers include Polypores (aka Stephen James Buckley) and Edinburgh musician Euan Dalgarno.

Aaliyah Enyo also imbues a sense of wilderness in her latest material recorded under Lost Map Records’ VISIT▲TIONS artist residency project. Written and composed in rural seclusion in a bothy cabin on the Isle of Eigg, Enyo’s two offerings are hypnotic constructions based around her celestial vocals. Her spacious soundscapes are wholly immersive, encapsulating a strong sense of solitude and the ethos of the VISIT▲TIONS project, to break away from the connectivity saturated modern world, acutely. And when it comes to new singles, keep your ears peeled for Without You by Moonsoup and INM from half girl/half android singer KLEO.