Scottish New Music Round-up: July 2024
Songwriters around Scotland spend July doing what they do best: releasing records indie, ambient, trad, techno, basically every type of tune for keeping cool this summer
For our favourite albums that we missed last month, see Self Help and Fictional Doubts by Be Charlotte, Virgins by Stanley Welch, and Business as Usual by The LaFontaines, while jazz producer corto.alto released 30 tracks in 30 days, the whole of which is available under 30/108. Some June singles included Nancy Dearest by Hamish Hawk, I'm Coming Home by Nina Nesbitt, Fall Leave by racecar, Spectral Index by Jewel Scheme, I Want by Tina Sandwich, Edie by Alice Faye, Here Comes The Agony by Silvi, and Don’t Borrow Grief From Later by Theo Bleak (featuring The Twilight Sad's James Graham).
As for this month, Clair returns on 2 July with Sonic Shorts 1.0, a reworking of the readings and field recordings featured in the producer’s Sonic Book Club residency project on Listen.camp. Sonic Shorts 1.0 has all the hallmarks of ambient songwriting – wind whistling through caves, fluttering of wings – but the resonance of the natural world builds throughout the record. Over nine tracks, Clair identifies the background sound of everyday life as a sort of tinnitus, isolates this metallic ringing, and incorporates it into a chorus of humming sirens and crackling vinyl. By track Gothic Times, the serenity of the early album has mutated into primal chants and dark, wailing sirens. Fading in and out are sampled monologues of writers and musicians such as Ali Millar, Jude Rogers, and Joe Muggs. These consummate collaborations, all under Clair’s artistic purview, have resulted in a richly textured sound story and a memorable listening experience.
This next one has a bit of background; ‘Waulking the Tweed’ was an ancient practice in the Highlands wherein the women of the community would sit in a circle and strike tweed with rocks to soften the material. The melodies of the songs they would sing – which were themselves records of working women’s dramas, complaints, and aspirations through history – are the basis of fiddle player Laura Jane Wilkie’s trad compositions on Vent (Hudson Records, 5 Jul). With a full backing of dextrous instrumentalists – and occasional vocals from Rachel Sermanni – Wilkie brings this fascinating relic of Scottish culture to life.
On the same day, Simultaneity (同時性), the newest psychedelic journey produced by jazz collective Ari Tsugi, is out on Rebecca Vasmant’s label. Then on 10 July, retro outfit Maxwell Weaver & The Fig Leaves release their EP Looking Lovely, a charming listen of do-wop and gospel pastiches, and for a debut EP of orchestral indie ballads, Edinburgh newcomer Ella Kennedy releases The Observer on 19 July.
Nightshift. Image: Brian Carroll.
Nightshift’s third album, Homosapien (Trouble in Mind, 26 Jul), is a collection of indie/alt-rock ballads, pairing distorted guitars and grungy riffs with the intimate, revelatory vocals of Eothen Stearn. On S.U.V, Stearn confesses being 'Suspicious of the facts of polyamory / With my lovers between me', whereas the overt Marxist tones of Side Effects – 'They complain that there’s not enough work / They’re stealing our jobs / Give them the right to work, dignity / Dignity for you and me' – shows nothing is being held back, personally or politically. The composition is just as multifaceted, with songs like Your Good Self having a punk tempo and resulting in instrumental breakdowns, while Together We Roll is bluesy with chanting couplets. The percussion and guitar work is exemplary, there’s the occasional synth buzzing in the background, and listen out for the fiddle contributions of Scottish music scene mainstay Ray Aggs on tracks like Phone.
Kinky rockabilly sextet Night Caller give us four fist-pounding bangers on EP So Much Pink, out later this month. Expect 60s song structures, screaming sax, and a lot of crooning about the ‘toybox’ under your bed. If Night Caller leaves you desperate for more, member Mungo Carswell is also playing for super-indie supergroup Scorpio Leisure who release their eponymous, debut album on the 19th via Last Night From Glasgow. Members also hail from Fire Engines and the Brian Jonestown Massacre amongst others, making this a melting pot of techno pop, hypnotic synthwork, and dark, trippy lyrics.
Hardcore listeners should check out For Display Purposes Only by Buffet Lunch (26 Jul), a frenetic concoction of piano key smashes and discordant guitar breaks. Fans of Jesse Rae might be interested in a repressing of the funk/punk poet’s 90s underground anthems in Almost Ma Self Again (Pace Yourself, 2 Jul). And pick up the July issue for full reviews of DÝRA by SHHE, and Ceremony by The Joy Hotel.
Finally, expect singles from Amy Papiransky and Joe Hearty on the 5th, and from Thundermoon and Keno on the 12th, while Andrew Wasylyk & Tommy Perman round off the month with Be The Hammer (featuring Arab Strap's Aidan Moffat) on 30 July.
Listen to our Music Now: New Scottish Music playlist in the player above – follow on Spotify, updated every Friday