Spotlight On... New Scottish Music in 2024

Last year was another exciting year for Scottish music. We had Young Fathers dominating on the live circuit, with award wins and nominations galore, while Hamish Hawk continued to go from strength to strength. Before the year was finished, other Scottish names were already appearing on future festival lineups – Humour are all set for Eurosonic in The Netherlands in January, LVRA and No Windows were both announced in the first wave of acts for May’s The Great Escape festival, swim school were announced in an early wave for summer fest Mad Cool, BRENDA for Madrid PopFest, Barry Can’t Swim for Primavera, and corto.alto for Cross the Tracks.

And predictions-wise from last year, we did alright! Terra Kin won the award for BBC Introducing Act of the Year, No Windows won the 2023 Sound of Young Scotland award at The SAY Award, Casual Worker won Best Electronic Act at the SAMAs and Queen of Harps was nominated for a whole host of stuff. Having a go at predicting the future again, here’s who we’re excited about for 2024.

Alice Faye

From the first note we heard Alice Faye sing, we were sold, leading us to almost immediately book her for our 2023 stage at Kelburn Garden Party. Her piano EP, Deadbeat, is an unbelievable piece of work, with a voice far beyond her years. At the end of last year, she picked up the Scottish Alternative Music Award for Best Acoustic act and is set to play Celtic Connections this month, followed by her first Edinburgh headline show in February at Leith Depot, with, we're told, more new music and festival appearances to follow throughout the year. Image credit: Demelza Kingston

Bee Asha

Edinburgh poet, singer-songwriter and rapper Bee Asha isn't afraid to discuss the big issues in her music, all the while managing to keep things bouncy and playful, which is an art in itself. Last summer she opened our stage at Kelburn Garden Party with help from her new band The Band Tees, and firmly got her exciting and ambitious Gitika Project underway, releasing the infectious singles Shy Guy and Gitika. With two shows coming up as part of Independent Venue Week (29 Jan-4 Feb), and loads more to follow in 2024 from The Gitika Project, Asha is one to watch for sure. Image credit: Greg Hall

Bikini Body

We’ve been enjoying the raucous energy and spiky dry wit of Bikini Body for some time now, and it feels like every time we see the Edinburgh five-piece live they’re tighter, more energetic and more fired up than ever. In short, they just keep getting better. Early this year they’re set to play their biggest headline show to date at The Mash House (9 Feb), and they’ve got new music coming very soon too, backed by a very reputable and exciting Scottish label… but that’s all we can say about that right now [insert eyes emoji]. Image credit: Rory Barnes

Doss

'Watch this space, keep your eyes peeled, we're the real d-d-d-d-d-d-deal'. Lyrics from Doss's latest bold and confident single King of the Castle, or our thoughts? Why not both! Doss are another act we booked for our stage at last year’s Kelburn Garden Party after hearing one song – The Mullets Are Moving In – and they absolutely did not disappoint in bringing the party. The end of last year then saw the gruff Glasgow disco-punks tour France, alongside announcing their debut EP Bootlicker, due this year. Watch this space, keep your eyes peeled. Image credit: Mark Anthony Gillies

LAMAYA

We’ve been shouting about LAMAYA a lot since she released her debut single COMING FOR UR <3 last October. With one single, she arrived sounding fully formed, which is no mean feat. We went to check her out at AMPLIFI last month, and alongside producer and DJ Quested, she absolutely blew us away – she looks like a popstar, sounds like a popstar and we feel like she could be destined for big things. As part of her set she performed her next single Hung by the Water, so there’s definitely more music to come. Image credit: Kim Simpson

neverfine

Glasgow three-piece neverfine came barreling onto the scene last spring with their single Silhouettes, followed in the autumn by their exceptional debut EP, Do Everything, Feel Nothing. Combining musical ideas from across rock, metal, industrial, pop and electro, Ashley Palkowski’s vocal soars majestically across their music, akin to Lauren Mayberry in CHVRCHES. This month, they play King Tut’s New Year’s Revolution and have loads more in the pipeline for 2024 that we’re not allowed to tell you about yet... Image credit: Robert Tait

Nikhita

The dreamy, soulful R'n'B of Nikhita featured in The Skinny last May as part of our Pop issue. Popgirlz founder Rachel Alice Johnson selected Nikhita as one to watch then, likening her to SZA, describing her songwriting as 'delicate', 'impactful' and 'addictive'. That same month she released the gorgeous Golden Child, which gained a lot of love across the board, and while she currently has nothing officially confirmed for this year, we spoke briefly via email about her plans which did include new music, so we're excited to see what comes next for Nikhita. Image credit: Kate McMahon

Pearling

Glasgow producer Pearling first caught our attention with her atmospheric, glitchy track Swan Tooth, released last January. As the year unfurled, her debut EP Celestia, Deep Sea Diver arrived in the spring as the perfect May release, all bubbling electronics, otherworldly twinkles, bubblegum vocals and hyperpop sensibilities. Pearling went on to be shortlisted for the Sound of Young Scotland Award as part of the annual SAY Award celebrations in October, and rumour has it there are exciting things to come this year, but our lips are sealed. Image credit: Pearling

Honourable mentions
Other artists we’re excited about for this year include, but are not limited to: Pippa Blundell, Fourth Daughter, Lloyd’s House, Danny Cliff, Theo Bleak, Possibly Jamie, Water Machine, EYVE, Belly Rachel and Doom Scroller, as well as new projects from Hailey Beavis and Brian Pokora (Both Hands) and Rick Anthony and David MacAuley (Afterlands).