The Tidal Wave of Indifference

Album of the Week: The Last Battle – Heart of the Land, Soul of the Sea 

Edinburgh hasn’t been so awash with folk bands since before Burke and Hare sniffed their first fresh cadaver. 

From the Balkan Bluster of Broken Records to Meursault’s lo-fi variant to Aberfeldy, before someone told them that synth-pop was a smart career move, Auld Reekie is currently stuffed with acts who shun amps in favour of mandolins and violins. 

And that’s where The Last Battle come in. Barely a year on from their debut gig in Leith’s wonderful Pond bar, here’s the debut album from the six-piece, recorded entirely in bass player Paul Barrett’s living room. 

For all their DIY ethos – self produced, out on the small-scale 17 Seconds label, it’s an incredibly mature and coherent record, loosely based around the story of two lovers unable to be together. 

I’ve never really bought into the idea of concept albums – they’re often utterly pretentious affairs, or even worse, mask a lack of creative musical ideas by dreaming up an unnecessary narrative. 

Mercifully, neither is the case here. Heart of the Land… is an album with tunes, soul and emotional intelligence. 

The single Ruins is a wee beauty, built on a gentle electric guitar riff (a rarity across the album’s ten tracks) and blessed with a lyrical bleakness lurking behind a truly catchy tune. Try listening to Take my hand and walk with me/And leave behind the relics of our old selves/Forget about the sadness in those ruins without thinking “awwww…” 

They’re nautical types too. Lifejackets has obvious seaworthy themes at its heart, while Cutlass, named after the pirate’s chib of choice, is the most raucous thing here, a rollicking sea shanty, surely fuelled by one or two bottles of rum. 

Scott Longmuir’s voice is gentle, melodic and entirely suited to the music which is at times so delicate that it’s a struggle to picture as many as six people making it. He’s backed all the way through by the warm harmonies of Arwen Duncan who sounds like she belongs in a fantastical literary epic. 

It’s the second half of the record that will really raise your eyebrows or drop your jaw, depending on how you react to hearing wonderful music for the first time. 

After Cutlass we get Whisky!!, a document of a journey over hills to the sea, presumably fuelled by a dram or two. It’s worth raising a glass to. 

Any Ocean (there’s that bloody water again) features Bart Owl from under-appreciated local heroes Eagleowl on guitar, and through its largely instrumental run time you’ll get the ebb and flow of someone like Explosions in the Sky. 

Finally, the unmistakable voice of Meursault’s Neil Pennycook haunts Soul of the Sea, which just about puts the tin lid on it. 

I’m writing this from the perspective of someone who’s had the album for a while but has struggled to listen to it in the right environment until now. Perhaps for that reason, it’s taken me a while to really ‘get’ it, but I’m glad I’ve truly given it my fullest attention. 

I caught up with Scott Longmuir for a chat last week and here’s what he had to say: 

You’re following a strong recent tradition of Edinburgh folk-influenced bands – what marks you out from the rest? 

I think a lot of the folk-influenced bands in Edinburgh tend to lean more to the traditional side of things, or what some would call “Teuterish Music” [I think he means what I'd call Teuchtar, but what do I know? - Immigrant Ed], either that or they incorporate electronics. We’re not very Teuterish and our songs are very concise and to the point and very pop-like in their arrangements. A journalist once commented that some of our songs had an almost Velvet Underground feel to them, which I totally got – some of them repeat the same chord patterns and rhythms in an almost ramshackle cycle. 

The Last Battle

Getting an album out so soon after your first gig is quite an achievement, What’s next for The Last Battle? 

I think when you take into account our situation – some of us are at uni, some have jobs, Myself and Ella [Duncan - Glockenspiel] have a baby together - then it is quite an achievement. Throw in the fact that we’ve gigged constantly since our first show in October 2009 and it makes you wonder how we’ve managed to record anything at all. As for what’s next, we’ve just signed with Select Booking Agency who look after Kid Canaveral and Tango In The Attic, so we’re looking forward to them booking a tour for us to promote the album later in the year. 

You recently had a launch party for the album at The Roxy in Edinburgh. How did it go? 

The album launch was a nerve-racking affair. We all sat at the door panicking that no one was going to appear, doors were at 7pm, and even at 8pm it was empty, then low and behold by the end of Mat Norris’ set the place was bustling. Subsequently by the time we went on at 10pm it had sold out! All in all we had a fantastic night! Still getting over it! 

With Silverchair mercifully out of commission, the time’s right for another band named after a Narnia book to come to the fore. Will you be bowing out in 10 years as a band called, say… Dawn Treader puts their first single out? 

We’ll be bowing out and managing Dawn Treader in ten years time! Also keep an eye out for solo artist Prince Caspian in 2020 – your kids are going to love him. 

Have a listen to Ruins here: 

You can order the album from www.thelastbattleuk.co.uk, download from iTunes or have a rummage in your local record shop (although good luck with this last one if you’re not in Scotland!)