Scottish New Music Round-up: November 2025
It will come as no surprise that November is incredibly busy for new Scottish releases. We look forward to albums from Claire M Singer, Peter Cat, Slime City, Vagrant Real Estate and loads more
As is custom, here's some of what we missed last month. There were new albums from Supermann on da Beat and Xidontile, Sister John, Starsky-Rae and Swim School, plus singles from Red Vanilla, SULKA, TAAHLIAH, TEXTURE TEXTURE, Róisín McCarney, Jacob Alon and jasmine.4.t, Szaskia, Nani Porenta, Adam Ross (ft. C Duncan), Linzi Clark, Radhika, Charlotte Devlin and more. November is similarly stacked. In the mag you'll find full album reviews for Siobhan Wilson, Simone Seales, Ric Herrington’s Audiatic Orchestra and Iona Zajac, who we also chat in more depth to in the November issue.
On 7 November, Claire M Singer (Music Director of the organ at London's Union Chapel) releases the second instalment of her triptych inspired by both her journeys in the Cairngorms and experimentation with the pipe organ. On her latest body of work – Gleann Ciuín, meaning ‘Quiet Glen’ in Gaelic – its five tracks and approximate 50-minute runtime is bookended by two 19-minute pieces; opener Turadh takes its name for the Gaelic word for ‘a break in the clouds’, while the Ivor Novello-nominated title track closes the album. Several organs recorded across Scotland appear on Turadh, while Gleann Ciuín's composition beautifully pairs viola, violin, cello and French horns with the Southbank Centre’s 1967 Flentrop organ. The album's filling features two shorter, rumbling electronic pieces that flank the centrepiece, the bright and optimistic Rionnag a Tuath ('north star'). A fascinating listen from start to finish, as evocative, atmospheric and as grand as you’d expect from a record rooted in a journey through the Scottish Highlands, but it’s the sounds Singer creates from the myriad organs featured that truly mesmerise.
On 14 November, Graham Gillespie, aka Peter Cat, releases his latest album, Starchamber, via Trapped Animal Records. Regularly taking unexpected and adventurous side-steps, expect tricky time signatures, creative chord changes and playful lyricism. On atypical love song INSTRUMENTALITY. he sings ‘We eat plant-based material, but when we’re steaming we’ll order the spicy buffalo wings’, while a nod to Empire Records brings the line ‘Shock me, shock me, shock me, with that deviant behaviour’ on the almost eight-minute closing dirge of Execution. A cocktail of outsider pop acts like Neil Hannon, Franz Ferdinand, Sparks, Pulp and Hamish Hawk all spring to mind, making for an intricate, theatrical cross-genre exploration across nine tracks that regularly delights.
Claire M Singer. Photo: Agnes Haus.
On 21 November, Glasgow’s premier nerd rock outfit of Michaels, Slime City release National Record of Achievement, its title track opening the record: ‘They tell you that you’ll need it / But you’ll never need it [... ] Nobody ever asks to see it / Your National Record Of… Achievement’. They channel The Futureheads and Devo on You Do the Math(s), become full-blown pranksters on Millennial Pause (no spoilers), state the obvious on Never Stop Giving Up (‘If you don’t like your job, you can leave it') and deliver a biting criticism of how fucked the music industry is on This Song Cost £2000. Across its 12 tracks, you'll often find yourself rolling your eyes while smirking at the same time, and with the album recorded by Bruce Rintoul (Vukovi/Twin Atlantic) it sounds brilliant to boot: sarcastic, frantic, hefty, and above all fun.
At the end of the month, Aberdeen producer Vagrant Real Estate releases Neither Collar Nor Crown (30 Nov), a 13-track exploration of what it means to be Scottish. “It’s shite being Scottish,” he says, explaining the mantra that led to his personal exploration of Scotland’s musical history that went on to inform this record. A cross-section of Scotland’s music scene as it currently stands is celebrated by 25 diverse voices across 13 tracks, with rappers like Bemz, Paque, Jackill, Chef the Rapper and Madhat McGore joined by singers like Katherine Aly, Iona Fyfe and Viv Latifa. Alongside samples and Vagrant’s beautifully vintage production style, Neither Collar Nor Crown offers up a rich tapestry of sounds that could only have been made in Scotland.
Also this month, expect a 90s-indebted album (Capitalism Kills Culture) from techno heavyweight Frazi.er (7 Nov), an ambient electronic debut (Instructions Not Included) from Edinburgh producer EchoDeltaYankee (19 Nov), and a new record from Grammy Award-winning violinist Nicola Benedetti; Violin Café arrives on the 21st. And on the 14th, be sure to grab yourself a physical copy of Pictish Trail’s brand new album, LIFE SLIME, well ahead of its full release next year.
Stacks of EPs are set to land this month too. Following the release of the punchy Voices In My Head last month, Glasgow surf-punks Maz and the Phantasms release their self-titled debut EP/mini album on the 14th. Self-proclaimed as “equal parts punk and charity shop glam”, it’s a tagline that suits this gang of four that upcycle and repurpose ideas from across their musical journey so far, piecing it together to form a record that feels polished but, by design, delightfully shabby chic and restless at the same time. You should also expect new EPs from DM Arthur, Milange, Mha Iri, Florence Jack, Eleanor Hickey, Midnight Painters, Becca Hunter and Ask Alice, with singles due from Andrew Wasylyk, Pearling, Brontës, Chris Anderson, Elsie Mac, F.O. Machete, Aurora Engine, Filmstar and more.
Listen to our New Scottish Music playlist on Spotify or YouTube, updated every Friday, and check out our new Music Now podcast – listen to our chats with Alice Faye, Kim Carnie and Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman.