Restless Jonnie’s music is becoming a common sound
JONNIE Common is fast living up to his name.
The Dundee singer-songwriter has spent a decade getting to where he is now – a hugely in-demand composer who has never been busier.
Next Friday, he releases his supremely catchy single Restless, the next day he’ll make his TV debut performing the score to a new drama, You Can’t Go Back on BBC2, and he’s also composing the music for the 150th anniversary of the McManus Gallery in Dundee.
Jonnie, 33, named his new single correctly. He’s so busy, he’s had to put his already written album on hold until next year.
He admitted: “I am constantly restless, feeling pulled in too many directions, trying to function as a self-employed musician.
“This restlessness can sometimes be a catalyst for creativity but, just because I’ve accepted that, it doesn’t mean I’m relaxed about or comforted by it.”
Jonnie was born in Dundee and grew up in Birnam, Perthshire.
After learning guitar at 16, he joined a couple of bands by the time of his last year at high school.
At university in Glasgow, he began writing and started recording and producing using “a very modest cassette four track”.
Jonnie formed a band, Down the Tiny Steps, and had songs released on compilations by Fence Records.
But he recalled: “After a year or so of being unhappy with the increasingly hard-to-lead band, and reluctantly tarnishing a few friendships in turn, I decided to put the band to bed at the end of 2008.”
He started forging out on his own and in 2011 he signed to Red Deer Club, as well as being played on 6Music and feted by The List.
His second album, Trapped in Amber, was released by Song, by Toad Records in Edinburgh in 2014.
The label were also behind his third album, Kitchen Sync – which he made using just sounds in his kitchen – and Restless. The video to his new single is a joy to watch. Jonnie is “helped” by three others dressed just like him as he does everyday tasks.
The video by Mario Cruzado has got a Napoleon Dynamite feel to it and conveys the quirky pop of the song, which is half-rapped by Jonnie, and is my favourite song by a Scot so far in 2017.
While the single is a cracker, we’ll have to wait for the album.
Jonnie explained: “The new album is written but I’ve been too busy with scoring and filming this televised theatre piece.
“I’ve also been commissioned by the McManus Gallery in Dundee to make some music based on their collection as part of their 150th Anniversary.
“It will culminate in a performance outside the museum on November 25.
“Both were dream jobs I couldn’t turn down.” ● Restless is out on October 6. Jonnie plays Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, on October 5, Tolbooth, Stirling, on October 6 and The Hug and Pint, Glasgow, on October 7.