Archive for April, 2012


CYRK

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April 26, 2012

Album of the Week: Cate le Bon – CYRK

There’s something gleefully odd about Welsh songstress Cate Le Bon. We first heard her, of course, on Gruff Rhys’ faintly bonkers Neon Neon project, adding sweet vocals to a concept album about a car-making playboy-cum-crook.

But even when first solo album Me Oh My emerged in 2009, there was clearly something that set her aside from the slew of humdrum female singers that have been kicking about in the last few years, and CYRK (Polish for circus) is a further leap away from your Marlings and so on.

There’s something undeniably retro about opener Falcon Eyed. With its jangly guitars and, ahem, groovy rhythms it feels like it straddles the late sixties and early eighties and appropriately is an absolute peach.

Le Bon has already endeared herself to the Scottish indie cognoscenti with an appearance at last year’s Homegame festival in Anstruther, an inspiring visit to Eigg and Eyes So Bright being covered by Tidal Wave favourites FOUND. It’s hard to grasp instantly what the link is, but it’s heartening to hear her singing in her own accent throughout, a concept Scottish indie is more than familiar with.

Well, we think it’s her own accent. On the pleasingly psychedelic Julia, she sounds positively otherworldly; certainly a million miles away from her hometown of Penboyr.

And perhaps it is that otherworldliness that truly marks her out as a genuine talent. There’s nothing put on about this quirkiness and thankfully it’s endearing rather than tiring.

Musically, there’s a wide variation at play here. Not everything hits you with the same pace as Falcon Eyed. Greta is positively funereal and Fold the Cloth pitches more at a Kinksian vibe, build on some nice subtle organ playing.

All told, a bit of a throwback then. But CYRK will surely continue to build Le Bon’s budding fanbase and bring this fascinating talent to the ears of more people.

CRYK is out on April 30 through Turnstyle.

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The Tidal Wave of Indifference Presents: Numéro Trois

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April 24, 2012

We’ve already been shamelessly hawking this round Facebook and Twitter, so here’s the slightly tardy actual blog puff piece.

The Tidal Wave of Indifference is back on the gig trail! After packing out the Wee Red Bar with PAWS, Edinburgh School for the Deaf and more in February, our third gig is right in the middle of summer, again at our favourite venue in the city. Sod the Euros, sod the beer garden, sod yer holidays, get yer butts down to this, it’ll be awesome!

So what have we got?

From the ashes of Come on Gang! and The Kays Lavelle have come The Bad Books. From low key beginnings, they’ve quickly established a reputation as one of the city’s most exciting live bands. Sounding nothing like Mikey Morrison (guitars) or Graeme Anderson’s (vocals/guitars/synths) previous acts, think of something more like Grandaddy or Modest Mouse. That good. Really.

We’d normally fill this space with a wee Bandcamp excerpt, but as yet, the Bad Books have nothing recorded. Tsk.

As good as Loch Awe’s debut album Artificial Life From a Digital Sea was, the band has changed beyond recognition since its releases, adding Brian (Trapped Mice/ex Last Battle) on guitars and multi-instrumentalist Oliver to the original line-up of Matthew, Joy and Jack. Now aiming for something louder and more expansive, they’ve been recording at Chem19, in preparation for a new release later this year. Expect to hear the results at the Wee Red Bar in June. Here’s a number from their first album, but as we said, they’ve moved on somewhat.

Edinburgh lo-fi indie-pop foursome the Spook School have attracted a gaggle of devoted followers in the short time they’ve been together and released two lovely EPs – they are, without question, the perfect fit for the Tidal Wave of Indifference.

Finally, we’ve also got Glasgow two-piece The New Fabian Society involved. We can’t believe their huge-sounding debut EP Exhibition of Love was created by just two people, but it’s awesome and fans of Bauhaus, Interpol and Echo and the Bunnymen will love these guys. Get down early and show them a lot of love!

Because we’re nice we’re also offering up some nice cheap early bird tickets at £4 over at Brown Paper Tickets. But once these are gone, they’re gone and the standard price will be £6 – still a bargain, I’m sure you’ll agree! It’ll be £7 on the door.

For more information, please email Stu at thetidalwaveofindifference@gmail.com or tweet @stu_lewis.

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Bandcrush: Brazil Exists

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April 18, 2012

We’ve never felt the need to question the existence of the world’s fifth largest country (by both area and population), sixth largest economy, home to the majority of the world’s rainforest and best footballing nation EVER. But thank goodness for a Stirling-based five-piece, who have confirmed once and for all that Brazil does in fact Exist.

That, we have to say, is quite a relief. But why should we take this disgustingly young lot’s word for it? Well, if Frightened Rabbit trust them, then so should you.

That’s right, Brazil Exists have been hand-picked to support Selkirk’s finest on five dates of their Teuchtar tour and that band’s guitarist Andy Monaghan has produced their debut EP The Hermit, released last month.

They’re a decent fit for a Frabbit-y road trip too, with the songs on The Hermit sounding big and brassy, in a similar style to their touring partners, the big difference being that that word ‘brassy’ should be taken literally. Michael Reade’s trumpet echoes throughout their sound, giving them a certain je ne sais quoi.

We certainly like the sound of them and reckon they have bags of potential. We also spoke to singer/guitarist Andy McAllister last week.

So who the hell are you?

We’re Brazil Exists, a five piece alternative Pop outfit from Stirling, Scotland.  

Describe your sound in ten words or less!

Slightly bearded, Mexican food loving chaps who enjoy strange humour. 

How did you come together as a band?

I suppose it started in very late high school. We’d all been involved in other projects growing up and I guess we just found a combination that had a working dynamic. It originally was only me, Darren and James for a year or so, then Craig joined and then Michael in early 2011. We’re a geeky happy family now. 

 
What are your key influences?
 
This is a question that we struggle with quite a bit. Writing wise/lyrically I’d say there is a lot of singer songwriter influences in there like Elliott Smith and Tom Waits. As a band however we’ve been described as a mix between Teenage Fanclub and Idlewild. I can’t think of any major influences that we consider when writing, but we’re all really into bands like The National, Idlewild, etc. So it’s just a big combination of things I guess. 
 
Why the name ‘Brazil Exists’?
 
The name Brazil Exists which was formulated concluding a philosophical discussion regarding existentialism on a train to Kilmarnock! We just thought it sounded pretty cool, one of those names that people read into far too much!
 
How does it feel to be touring with Frabbits?
 
It feels amazing. They’re really nice guys and we can’t wait to get on the road with them. 
 
Have you been to many of these far-flung places before?
 
We’ve also always wanted to play up north in the remote parts of Scotland, just because it’s such a beautiful part of the country that often misses out on touring bands. But no, we’ve never been up before and we’re really looking forward to it.
 
Can we expect to see a full release soon?
 
We’re in the studio just now with Andy from Frabbits working on a bunch of new songs. There has been talk of a rock opera.
 
As mentioned above, the band are part of Frightened Rabbit’s World Tour of the Scottish Highlands and Islands – dates below!
 
Aviemore Old Bridge Inn, April18
Stornoway An Lanntair, April 19
Portree Community Centre, April 20
Strathpeffer Spa Pavillion, April 21
Dunoon Queens Hall, April 22
Falkirk 20 Rocks, May 3 (with Three Blind Wolves, not Frabbits!)
 
The Hermit is out now on major download services. We’ve plumped for a non-EP track for a cheeky listen below.
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An Eagle to Saturn

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April 17, 2012

Album of the Week: The Leg – An Eagle to Saturn

Continuing a long line of genuine Scottish eccentrics that stretches from the Sensational Alex Harvey Band through Billy MacKenzie, up to the Aliens, comes Edinburgh mob the Leg.

Formerly known, among other things, as Desc and counting former Dawn of the Replicant man – and fellow curio Paul Vickers – among their previous collaborators, An Eagle to Saturn is Daniel, Pete and Alun’s third album as the Leg, and as well as being utterly hatstand, it’s also a belter.

In truth, things start conventionally enough with the title track, but after two minutes of gentle strumming, singer is screeching “I don’t what a twitching stick is!!” on, yes, Twitching Stick. The resemblance this charming little ditty has to the theme from South Park is almost certainly a coincidence, but it echoes the cult animation’s establishment-baiting feel. Even the more adventurous 6 Music DJ will be hesitating over putting some of this stuff on air.

Bouncing from genre to genre often in the space of a single song (highlight Freda Bolt switching from Lightening Bolt-esque fury to fade out on mournful strings deserves a special mention here), the Leg are untroubled by such commercial concerns, having existed in one form or another for almost fifteen years.

The juxtapositions are unyielding, from the dark lyrics of Bake Yourself Silly (“there are no stitches, cos there was no operation“) over some light-touch psychedelia to the beautiful strings of The Birds Are Falling, utterly spiked by some hissing, distorted vocals. Even when you’re tempted to dismiss a song as superfluous (Jingle Bells in the Summertime), up pop some superb chamber pop melodies.

Somehow, it all holds together. Just. When it’s all over you’ll find yourself on the floor, blinking, liked Spaced’s Brian Topp after an imaginary gun battle with friends, stuck with disbelief about what’s just happened.

Eccentric? Yes. Brilliant? That too. Like some of the acts we mentioned earlier, it seems that madmen continue to make cracking albums.

One of the aformentioned madmen, Daniel Mutch (guitar/banjo/vocals) was available to explain. In a surprise move, it turns out he and his bandmates are also pandas, at least according to the below pic… 

The Leg – in one form or another – have been around for a long time. How do you think your sound’s changed?

We have played together since 1998. There used to be lots of other musicians involved but, with one thing and another, we became a three piece. We never actually made a pact but it has come to feel like we did. This is most notable to us when playing older songs – they tend to become more to the point. 

An Eagle to Saturn sounds like the culmination of multiple influences and more than a smattering of your own lunatic ideas. Fair comment? Our influences are rather varied and it’s not easy to say we are influenced by this or that. The songs now tend to form over a long period of time, during which various obsessions come and go. Also we are each influenced by different things and it’s all used (sometimes it’s invisible) when it feels right. We started working on An Eagle to Saturn five years ago and finished it a few months ago. At the beginning of that time the Harry Smith anthology was the thing, by the end it was all Arabic music.
 
 
Tell us a little about what you’ve got lined up for the launch gig (details below)?
 
God willing, we will have a string section and the venue is a place of historical significance in the world of dancing.
 
Flying an eagle to Saturn is going to be rather impractical for multiple scientific reasons. However, our challenge to you is to think of a far flung destination and means of travel that’s even more ridiculous than your raptor/planet concoction – go!
 
If you threw a copy of our record at a falling monkey, the monkey would land on it and be transported into a parallel universe. It would be very dizzy but would eventually arrive in Edinbellow, the capitol of Skitland.
 
An Eagle to Saturn is out on April 30 via Song, By Toad with details of an intriguing launch night here. Their label has also made bake yourself silly available as a free download, which is awfully kind. Go get it over here.
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Bandcrush: The New Fabian Society

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April 12, 2012

So, with thanks to Wikipedia, we present the Fabian Society:

‘a British socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World War I. The society laid many of the foundations of the Labour Party and subsequently affected the policies of states emerging from the decolonisation of the British Empire, especially India‘.

Wow. Serious stuff and and otherwise-inoccuous email from a band has led us to this fascinating history lesson. The name of the ‘New’ Fabian Society instantly registered some recognition with us, but if it had come up in a pub quiz we’d have been struggling to define quite what it was.

So thanks then to this Glasgow two-piece for leading us to this info, but more importantly, thanks also for their awesome debut EP, Exhibition of Love.

We’ve streamed the whole thing below – it’s three tracks and just over seventeen minutes of predictably dark, gloomy and powerful guitars and drums, reminiscent of Bauhaus, Echo and the Bunnymen and their more modern acolytes Interpol (before they lost their way after two exciting albums, of course).

Lost in Berlin after four minutes of distorted effects slips into a thunderous rock song with singer Michael, aahhh, ‘Fabian’ doing his best Pete Murphy howl; Devious Minds is of a similar vein but goes for the jugular much quicker before fizzing out on the same whirring sounds that opened the EP in the first place.

There aren’t many bands in Scotland playing this kind of music to any kind of competency or quality so hearing this was a blast of fresh, yet polluted and post-industrial air. We absolutely love, and fully expect to be hearing much more from, these guys. We spoke to drummer Nick about the EP and what’s next.

So who the hell are you?

We are a two-piece band hailing from Glasgow who formed in late 2011.

Describe your sound in ten words or less!

Shadow ridden post-industrial punk with a psychedelic slant.

A minimalist EP cover - there are no 'press' shots of the band ready yet!

The band name seems very carefully chosen; care to tell us about what’s behind it?

Yes, it was carefully chosen and one which we almost never went ahead with. We’re not attempting to be political troubadours or anything like that. It was more an attempt to capture or emulate the spirit of what was once a powerful and romantic sentiment that slowly became corrupted, distorted, anarchic and tainted. I think that we wanted to convey that sense of fallibility, aggression, failure and industrialism to the current musical landscape.

How did you guys get together to make music?

We have known each other the best part of fifteen years and both grew up together but we only really joined musical forces when we ran into each other at a Horrors gig. We formed through an appreciation of the same music, excess, self loathing, misery, marginalism and disorientation with the current social environment. We wanted to make a lot of noise to the point where live it was almost unpalatable to those witnessing it.

What’s influenced the EP?

The EP was influenced by early Brian Jonestown Massacre, No Age, Mogwai, The Eighties Matchbox B-line Disaster, My Bloody Valentine, early Joy Division and The Idiot by Iggy Pop.

How did you come by such a huge sound with just two of you?

We use a lot of reverb through the mics on the drum kit and a classic fender reverb amp for the guitar. We also love our effects which is generated through trusty dream machine and boss DD-7 – we have also recently became infatuated with the limitless capabilities of the e-bow. All of this helps to create a pretty loud violent industrial sound.

Is there a full length release in the pipeline?

We’ve literally just started showcasing our debut EP and we’ve been quite fortunate to have been offered some good gigs already. At this point we’re just looking to develop and expand our sound further and a generate as much noise as we can. Yeah, we would love to put an album out sometime in the near future but we have a bit to go before we’re ready.

Any live shows on the horizon? Quite a few at the moment, looking forward to supporting London band Foreign Office at King Tuts Fri 18th May. There’s a full listing of shows on our Bandcamp page, or follow us on Twitter.

Excluding yours, what’s your favourite society?

There are far too many to mention but I guess for us it would be the Oliver Reed Appreciation Society. He was a fine actor and would have been good company in Rab Ha’s* with a beer!!

*We’re assuming this is some kind of west coast wine bar.

We hope to bring you some exciting news about this band shortly – stay tuned!

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Who’s up for the Scottish Album of the Year?

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April 12, 2012

The recent announcement that the Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) was creating a Scottish Album of the Year Award has been met with mostly positive noises from the industry and bl*g*sph*re. With some big cash prizes backing up the prize, this does, in our eyes at least, look like the long-awaited, high profile means of recognising Scottish music that many of us have been looking for.

The longlist is now out with full details below. We’ll be honest, we’re not familiar with a fair few artists here, but that’s the beauty of a diverse judging panel (we’re not on it by the way, so please direct that roll of twenties elsewhere, thanks). There’s plenty of great stuff in there though, including no less than five albums that made Tidal Wave’s own top 25 last year, plus a rather nice surprise in the shape of Happy Particles.

There’s one band in there that if they win, we’ll probably leave the country in disgust, but we’ll let you work that one out. We’ll probably be going for King Creosote or Mogwai in the public vote, the winner of which will guarantee themselves a place on the shortlist, due for publication on May 17, to be followed by the winner’s announcement on June 19.

Interesting stuff and we hope you’ll support this initiative and its noble aim of supporting great Scottish music.

The longlist is as follows:

- 6th Borough Project “One Night In the Borough”

- Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat “Everything’s Getting Older”

- Bwani Junction “Fully Cocked” 

- Chris Stout’s Brazilian Theory “Live In Concert”

- Conquering Animal Sound “Kammerspiel” 

- FOUND “factorycraft” 

- Fudge Fingas “Now About How” 

- Happy Particles “Under Sleeping Waves” 

- Jonny “Jonny” 

- King Creosote & Jon Hopkins “Diamond Mine”

- Mogwai “Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will”

- Mungo’s Hi Fi “Forward Ever” 

- Muscles Of Joy “Muscles Of Joy” 

- Remember Remember “The Quickening”

- Richard Craig “Inward”

- Rustie “Glass Swords”

- Steve Mason & Dennis Bovell “Ghosts Outside”

- Tommy Smith “Karma” 

- Twin Atlantic “Free” 

- We Were Promised Jetpacks “In The Pit Of the Stomach”

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Beware and Be Grateful

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April 10, 2012

Album of the Week: Maps and Atlases – Beware and Be Grateful

Chicago’s Maps and Atlases, band of choice for “those who know” are back with their second album proper, with a few things burdening the four-piece.

Firstly, there’s the weight of expectation. The expectation that Beware and Be Grateful will be even better than 2010’s Perch Patchwork and propel the band towards bigger venues and the same rung of the ladder that’s occupied by Yeasayer and Beach House.

And vaguely linked to that, there’s also the band’s direction. Early recordings were squarely math-rock influenced, while Perch Patchwork was considerably more accessible. The assumption was that Maps and Atlases were going to get even poppier.

So what does Beware and Be Grateful actually give us? Simple – a pop record that’s certainly better than Perch Patchwork. And that’s something worth celebrating.

Sure, those tightly wound arrangements and time changes are still present and correct (the band haven’t been labelled ‘math pop’ for nothing), but in the likes of Fever and Winter, there are energy-filled pop songs bursting through.

Dave Davison’s distinctive voice is at the top of the production throughout, with a mixture of backing harmonies and vocal loops just as prominent, complimenting the juddering drums and angular guitar just nicely. 

We mentioned Yeasayer before, and that band’s blend of Afrobeat-informed odd-pop with soaring vocals isn’t a bad place to start a game of ‘Sounds like…’, especially on Silver Self. Such a comparison is fairly cosmetic, however, and we can’t think of anyone else you could truthfully say sounds like Maps and Atlases.

Oh, and if you’re worried by the phrase ‘Afrobeat-informed odd-pop’ and are thinking ‘Vampire Weekend’ as you slowly back away, fear not. A breezy tune like – oh yes – Vampires has more ideas and charm in its 2’33 run time than the Columbia Uni boys managed over their entire second album.

So make sure you find your way to Maps and Atlases, this could yet turn out to be one of the year’s best albums.

We spoke to guitarist Erin Elders over the weekend.

How do you think your sound has changed since Perch Patchwork?

I think Beware and Be Grateful sort of continues what we were doing with Perch Patchwork. But textually we experimented with a lot more effects this time around. We’ve never really been an effect-heavy band so I think dabbling in that world definitely led to some crazy ideas. I also think this album has more of a looseness to it. The songs on our previous recordings tended to tie themselves up nicely, whereas these songs kind of run wild.

Vocals seem as crucial an ‘instrument’ on the album as anything else – was that a deliberate move?

The songs on this record are the most focused we’ve written thus far and the vocals and lyrics are a crucial part of that. We wanted them to stick out a little more in the mix. Also, a lot of the weird sounds on this record are actually vocal loops.

What are the key influences you’ve brought to Beware and Be Grateful?

We’ve always been pretty influenced by artists like David Bowie and The Talking Heads and I think this album leans toward the Brian Eno-era Bowie records. Some of the songs started off very keyboard heavy and had sort of a “Low” vibe.

 Do you expect to be back in the UK after your April shows – a festival or two perhaps?

We have no definite plans yet but I’m sure we will be back to the UK in the relatively near future.

Maps and Atlases are in the UK next week. Catch them at the following dates:

Bristol Cooler, April 16

London Garage, April 17

Manchester Night and Day, April 18

Glasgow Nice ‘N Sleazy April 19

Leeds Brudenell, April 20

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Bandcrush: Town Hall

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April 8, 2012

Covering New York’s Town Hall was an easy decision to make. Not only did they ensure their constant presence on our radar through a series of persistently cheery emails, the music lived up to their promise of greatness.

From the least promising of band names has emerged one of this year’s best EPs in Sticky Notes and Paper Scraps. Far from the messy collection of offcuts, its name suggests, it’s focused, well-produced and one of the best things we’ve heard this year.

Build around core members – and music students – Stefan, Phoebe and Jesse, there’s a maturity present that other folk-influenced bands struggle to pick up in their formative years. They remind us a lot of an American Last Battle and we think the two bands are kindred spirits, even if, until reading this piece, they’re probably never heard of each other.

There’s already an album on the way, and the band’s first video embedded below. We’re impressed both by their talent and their ambition, and on current form, maybe that first Scottish show isn’t far away. Here’s a bit more from the band’s Jesse Kranzler.

So who the hell are you?

We’re Town Hall; we’re a folk band from NYC. We’re all music students and good friends.

Describe your sound in ten words or less!

Folk. Pop. Rock. Adventure. Experimental. Roots. Fun. Electric. Calm. Quirky.

Both New York and Scotland are coming down with folk pop bands at the minute. Why should we listen to you guys?

Because we need friends. You want to be our friend, don’t you? Our music reflects a lot of varied influence – from the avant-garde to top 40 pop – so we try to put a spin on traditional folk and indie music to make the tunes both easily accessible and give a music nerd something to stay entertained with too.

How did you come together as a band?

We met at school freshman year and started writing music together the following summer.

What inspired that lovely EP then?

Sticky Notes and Paper Scraps is a collection of songs that we initially had released on an acoustic EP right after the band formed. They all changed through our transition from an acoustic trio to a full band, so we wanted to show people how our sound has progressed & give a hint as to what the full-length will be like.

And can we expect that full length record soon?

April 15th, baby. The album is called Roots and Bells and picks up right where the EP left off. It puts together all of our new material as well as a few songs from the EP to create a full narrative. We consider this album to be our first big statement as a band and we’re excited for everyone to hear it! In the meantime, we’ve been releases acoustic re-interpretations of some of old favorites on our YouTube, since I know you’re probably just itchin’ to hear us play some more tunes. An EP of all of our cover songs will come out shortly after the full-length is released. Oh, and if anyone who reads this is in the New York area, we’ll be celebrating our album release with a show at The Studio at Webster Hall on Sunday, April 15th!

Any plans to hit Europe?

DEFINITELY. Do you want to fly us out?

Ummmmm. What’s your favourite town hall then?

Ours I think?

Bzzzzt. Wrong! The correct answer was in fact Hollywood Town Hall by the Jayhawks. We’ve streamed some choice cuts from Sticky Notes and Paper Scrap above and here’s the video for Good Boy, a taster for that incoming album. Enjoy!

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The Seed

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April 4, 2012

Album of the Week: Plum – The Seed

Sometimes a music scene that you think you know like the back of your hand still manages to pull out the odd surprise.

Example: We were utterly oblivious to the existence of Shona Maguire, aka Plum, mere days ago, but we’ve now found ourselves waxing lyrical about her latest album, The Seed.

It’s hard to put your finger on precisely what defines Edinburgh music at the minute – it’s certainly not a bunch of beardy folkies, if it ever even was – but being home to multi-instrumentalist female solo artists probably wasn’t at the top of your list of ‘things wot I know about Embra music, likes’. And yet, here we are.

Mixing gently strummed guitars and light beats is far from a new trick (see Tidal Wave’s favourite Czech folktronica exponents Fiordmoss for a start), but on The Seed it’s neatly executed, throwing the laid back The Truth and The Knife, up against some sneaky beats elsewhere.

If we’re being picky, we’d actually have wanted some of these beats to be thumped a little bit harder, like the latest Fever Ray and Bat for Lashes albums, but perhaps Shona’s voice, more melody-driven and less spectral than the aforementioned ladies wouldn’t lend itself so well to such sounds

And yes, it’s a little poppier, but that’s also one of its strengths. Tunes like the opening title track are instantly accessible and there’s radio-friendly tunes throughout.

So, Plum. A bit of a hidden gem? Here’s hoping not for much longer. And here’s hoping as well, that those beats do indeed thump that little bit harder live. On that note, Plum will be launching The Seed on Saturday (April 7) at the Electric Circus. We suggest you get along. In the meantime, here’s a wee interview with the titular lady.

What are the key influences behind The Seed?

It’s a concept album – about the seed of an idea. Everything from the notation, the textures, the samples (like the main vocal loop in Myriad is a slowed down version of the backing vocals in The Truth andThe Knife) were about the way an idea can grow and take on its own life. The lyrics were about a specific idea that was planted in my mind in childhood, which has been left to grow. And in trying to unfold it all, and understand myself, I slowly but surely traced everything back to this one sentence that was said to me when I was about four or five years old. The point is that any idea, once the idea is planted will grow and take on its own life. I find that really interesting and was really inspired to write with the concept once I unearthed the roots of how one simple sentence could shape my thoughts and feelings so much it became part of who I was, it grew into the bones of my personality. It’s so powerful. Both terrifying and inspiring. 
 
Do you think your sound has changed in the last couple of years?
 
Definitely. When I was in music production college I swore I would never sing live. I was so shy, I would record vocals as quietly as possible in case anyone would hear me. The first track I wrote was entirely electronic – I sampled a little girl who sat next to me on a train from Edinburgh to Londontalking about how she was going to fill her shed with toys. Since I picked up a guitar at 15 I have always written songs, and they were always cathartic, personal and difficult to perform in front of anyone. The first EPs (The Whispering Chamber and The Glory Feast) and the album (Different Skin) were part of a big journey of getting over the fear of singing… and of expressing my thoughts and feelings… folktronica they called it. After Different Skin, I was really keen to have something more fun to perform live. I wrote more upfront stuff and moved into a different genre – not sure of what it is exactly – but Electrofuzztronica, and Indie-Scotchtronica are my current favourites. 
 
Who or what inspires you musically?
 
Ideas inspire me the most. Anyone doing anything unique. Nothing is more sad than people trying to follow what’s “in” or “now”, it’s the opposite of progress. I am currently head over heels for Grimes – the lass is my musical kindred spirit. I think we write in a really similar way, but she does it in a sweeter, lighter way.  I’ve always loved Bjork for music and lyrics, and general forward thinking, I’m big into Buck 65 for his lyrics. I love Feist. Fever Ray. Skrillex. Imogen Heap. Tori Amos. I could go on. 
 
Are you planning on taking the record out on the road?
 
I am dying to take the record on the road. I will play anywhere for food, transport and somewhere to kip. I can’t wait!
 
 
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