Scottish New Music Round-up: September 2021

We celebrate new releases this month from Hamish Hawk, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Kirsty Grant, Cahill//Costello, Georgia Cécile and more

Preview by Tallah Brash | 02 Sep 2021
  • Kirsty Grant

On Green Day’s 2004 album, American Idiot, Billie Joe Armstrong pleaded: ‘Wake me up when September ends.’ But if you sleep away the month, you’ll miss all of the musical treats Scotland has in store for you, so wakey wakey, rise and shine, September is here and she means business.

Starting in Edinburgh, Hamish Hawk – who you may also know as one of the many friendly faces working behind the counter of the capital’s Assai record shop – releases his stunning new album, Heavy Elevator, on 17 September. Coming out on the shop’s own Assai Recordings label, it’s been quite an exciting year so far for Hawk, as a change in musical direction saw him picked up as one to watch by BBC Radio 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq who gave heavy rotation to the album’s lead single Caterpillar earlier in the year. 

Although the rest of the album doesn’t have the same new wave sensibilities as Caterpillar, Heavy Elevator sees Hawk put his Neil Hannon-esque voice to full use, stretching it into shapes he likely didn’t previously realise were possible. Heavy Elevator is an exciting collection of songs that sees Hawk fully exploring every nook and cranny of his musical ability and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for him. Read our full interview with Hawk in this month's magazine.

We Were Promised Jetpacks also have a new album out this month. Enjoy the View lands on 10 September via Big Scary Monsters and sees the band arriving at a more indie-pop sound than we’re used to hearing from the Edinburgh three-piece. Read lead singer and guitarist Adam Thompson’s full track-by-track walkthrough in the September issue.

If it’s gleaming pop you’re after this month, check out London-based Scot Kirsty Grant (originally from just outside Dundee), whose debut EP Chain Reaction is due on 10 September. Featuring six tracks – only two of which break the perfect-pop three-minute mark, and only by a few seconds. From the minute the chorus of Bad Boys, Good Girls (‘Why do bad boys fuck around with good girls’) comes into view, we’re sold. The concise nature of this short, sharp EP is what works so well here, and while its touchpoints are clear (Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande, Carly Rae Jepsen, Taylor Swift), Kirsty Grant could well be on her way to being an artist future pop acts cite as inspiration.

What sounds like the clanking of a teaspoon being swirled around a freshly brewed cuppa haunts The Visitant, the opening track of Offworld – the debut album from new ambient/lo-fi duo Cahill//Costello (guitarist Kevin Daniel Cahill and drummer Graham Costello). The track itself constantly swirls, oftentimes swelling and spilling over, but by allowing this spillage, it creates room for further exploration of sound.

The cacophonous 95 second-long And It Was Not Meant That We Should Voyage Far feels perfectly placed, suddenly making you sit bolt upright around 30 minutes into this record. If that doesn’t wake you up, the crashing and thrashing on eight-minute epic Pylon II certainly will. There’s an uneasy familiarity that runs through Offworld, but the most gripping aspect of this record is the way in which its ominous, ethereal soundscapes can very quickly transport you to an almost meditative state, forcing you into a trance before you’ve even noticed. Take me to your leader.

Scottish jazz talent Georgia Cécile already has a plethora of accolades under her belt. She won Best Vocalist at the 2019 Scottish Jazz Awards, has been tipped as One to Watch by BBC Introducing and Jazzwise magazine, and was nominated Jazz Vocalist of the Year at the Jazz FM Awards 2020. Listening to her debut album, Only the Lover Sings (17 Sep, Warner ADA), you can certainly hear why – her voice is full-bodied, becoming smoky, sultry or playful in exactly the right moments.

While occasionally this album stumbles into slightly cheesy terrain – the upbeat feel-good anthem Always Be Right For Me could easily soundtrack Phil Rosenthal’s next continent-hopping TV show – ultimately Only the Lover Sings oozes old fashioned glamour, and there’s a real warmth across the record. From the romantic violin swells of Goodbye Love, to the swirling piano on Come Summertime and the staccato brass on Blue Is the Colour, it's all effortlessly held together by the power in Cécile’s voice. 

On 3 September, Edinburgh-Nigerian rapper LOTOS (Last of the Old School) – alongside her collective of the same name, which includes Revelations, Kope and singer Oggie – release their latest album, Renaissance. Combining their crystal clear vision with grime-infused beats and just a whiff of garage, Renaissance shines brightest when LOTOS’s lyrical flow is placed front and centre. Also this month, Declan Welsh and the Decadent West release their new EP, It’s Been a Year (2 Sep), Tijuana Bibles release their new album Free Milk (3 Sep), Andrew Brooks releases EAST (24 Sep), and Bemz releases his new EP, M4 (24 Sep).