Scottish New Music Round-up: December 2024

Before unwrapping December, there were a few firecrackers that didn’t make it into last month’s column; make sure to check out EPs from Psweatpants (2LeftFeet), Washington (XTC), Loup Havenith (Understand) and Pedalo (Migration), as well as singles from Blanck Mass (Bloodhound), Jacob Alon (Confession), Zoe Graham (When Living Came Easy), SISTER MADDS (Purgatory), C Duncan (Delirium), Linzi Clark (The Couch), Sacred Paws (Another Day), Cloth (Polaroid), Gout (Bed Sores) and Franz Ferdinand (Night or Day).

The last month of the year has only just started, and we’re already tired of overplayed Christmas hits. Make a little time for synth-pop this season, and check out Vicious Creature (EMI Records, 6 Dec), the debut solo album from CHVRCHES frontwoman Lauren Mayberry. Since the Stirling native teased the release with lead single Change Shapes back in March, we’ve been keen to get our hands on the full record, and it’s well worth the wait – Mayberry shows a side of herself that didn’t quite fit into CHVRCHES, a more confrontational character that doesn’t always play nice with others. About the writing process, Mayberry wanted to “feel comfortable telling certain people to fuck off when they treat me like shit – on this record, and in these songs, I get to do that."

It shows in tracks like Punch Drunk and Sorry, Etc. These are fiery invectives that are deeply danceable, like much of Mayberry’s work. The record also has a sensitive side, showcasing emotive melodies and revelatory songwriting like in Oh, Mother and A Work of Fiction. Throughout, mixes sound bassy, bubbly, and cola-sweet, but Mayberry still doesn’t compromise on her more complex feelings. If what you’re hearing on supermarket PAs this month is monstrously commercial, this is one Vicious Creature that could use some love.

That’s not the only December drop with a year-long build-up. Local female and non-binary songwriting collective Hen Hoose release the third and final instalment in their 2024 discography, EP3 (4 Dec), pairing together prominent artists for a five-track end-of-year bash. Their previous compilations came to us back in June and September, so make sure to check those out before the grand finale.

EP3 opens on Bad Decisions, a collab between Scottish Alternative Music Award-winning DJ/Producer K4CIE and rapper XZO. Fucked Up is a buzzing, icy blend of styles from Scottish music mainstays Carla J. Easton and Elisabeth Elektra. On The Mountain, Tanya Mellote provides a dreamy, ethereal score to a spoken-word performance by disability rights campaigner Kiana Kalantar-Hormozi. Ray Aggs and Sarah Rayes, two prolific multi-instrumentalists, create the brilliantly complex For All I Can, and dance track Pressure, by AMUNDA and Nightwave, closes this triptych of records. Hen Hoose founder MALKA said back when the collective was formed: “All artists have been affected by the pandemic, the problem is women were at a disadvantage in the industry to begin with.” What started as a means to protect those undervalued by the Scottish music industry has become a highly successful creative force in its own right. We can’t wait to see what Hen Hoose hatches in 2025.

For a strong dose of nostalgia, check out World (6 Dec), the newest album by Edinburgh-based composer Daniel McGurty. Written in the vein of ambient 90s computer music – the album even borrows its aesthetic from the PS1 era – these nine tracks make use of shimmering chimes and rapid drum loops that will transport you right back to a time when dial-up dominated. On 13 December, Becca Starr releases Defixio on her label Family Starr Records. As well as the hip-hop prowess we expect from the SAMA winner, Starr shows off dark and soulful vocal performances, R’n’B-style beatmaking, and a confrontation with personal, troubling themes – after all, Defixio is a Latin term for a cursed piece of text. On the same day, plucky-but-grungy Glasgow four-piece Wendell Borton release their debut album Big Love. It’s got that capital-R Rock combo of heavy electric guitars and precise, falsetto vocals, and the LP provides a much-needed antidote to winter blues.

One to watch next year could be Glaswegian pop composer ODD LUKE, who releases Surface Tension on 6 December via Verdigris Records. This EP is a selection box of dynamic dance hits, and if it seems like ODD LUKE is a ready-made rising-star, his experience as a touring musician for artists such as Lewis Capaldi might explain how he can effortlessly attain that larger-than-life sound. The new Christmas single by MALKA (When You’re Here, 3 Dec) has a place on your festive playlists, and don’t forget to check out singles by Little Acres (Kintsugi, 2 Dec), Sonotto (First Date, 9 Dec), Maranta (Into The Evening, 13 Dec), and Ciar Nixon (Murmurations (Fade), 16 Dec).