This, for want of a better description, is a charity album, in aid of the Scottish Mental Health Foundation. It features 14 songs written over 5 days by an A-list crop of Scottish indie musicians, from Frightened Rabbit, The Twilight Sad, Idlewild, Delgados, The Sparrow and the Workshop, and the likes of James Yorkston and Jenny Reeve. In other words, mainly obscure Scottish musicians.
The temptation with a project like this in aid of a good cause is to damn it with faint praise, making it difficult to judge it purely as a musical venture. If anything it reminds me of a more diverse Cake Sale, with a fair range of tracks from folk to rock and several points in between.
James Graham of The Twilight Sad has surely the strongest Scottish accent in modern rock, and he’s in fine voice on the mellow Splinter and Favourite Son, with fine backing vocals from Jill O’Sullivan (The Sparrow and the Workshop) and Emma Pollock (ex-Delgados), a fine rocker full of tension.
James Yorkston turns in a nice duet with Emma Pollock on the rocking Forgotten Anniversary but he’s on more familiar territory with the Wicker Man style sinister folk of Beware Beware and the almost Appalachian After Hours.
There really is something for everyone here with the powerful indie anthems of I Forgot The Fall and Singing For Strangers, the playful Americana of Dead Leaves and a Swollen Leg and folk-rock of The Untrue Womb. The instrumentation is subtle and varied throughout, special mention to the fine guitar played by Rod Jones of Idlewild on many of the aforementioned, evoking the likes of The Wedding Present on All Gone But One.
For anyone with a taste for indie with a strong Scottish accent, this is worth a listen. Available from Chemikal Underground.
By Killian Laher.
Track listing:
1. Splinter by Scott Hutchison & James Graham.
2. Forgotten Anniversary by James Yorkston & Emma Pollock.
3. Favourite Son by Jill O’ Sullivan, James Graham & Emma Pollock
4. I Forgot The Fall by Scott Hutchison & Rod Jones
5. Beware Beware by James Yorkston & Alasdair Roberts
6. Dead Leaves And A Swollen Leg by Rod Jones & Jill O’ Sullivan
7. Singing For Strangers by Scott Hutchison & Emma Pollock
8. Fall Arch by James Graham & Karine Polwart
9. All Gone But One by Rod Jones & James Graham
10. After Hours by Scott Hutchison & James Yorkston
11. The Untrue Womb by Alasdair Roberts & Rod Jones
12. Tooth And Claw by Jenny Reeve & Jill O’ Sullivan
13. Hired Help by Rod Jones & Emma Pollock”
14. Just As Scared by Jill O’ Sullivan & James Yorkston
