Musical offerings merit attention

Andrew Welsh looks at some exciting new recordings from talented Tayside bands

Ahost of bands from Courier Country’s fertile music scene have new offerings demanding attention. From established artists with decades of industry experience behind them to upcoming unsigned talents, there’s no shortage of fresh and exciting recordings worth checking out.

One of the biggest names to bring out new material is Dunfermline’s Skids and Big Country six-stringer Bruce Watson, whose latest opus is a collaboration with his guitarist son Jamie and American songsmith and podcaster Thomas Kercheval.

Incredibly, the Watsons completed WKW’s nine-track Men Of Steel without ever meeting their Washington-based foil in person. All the tracks were worked out in their respective studios in Fife and the USA.

Crowdfunding secured a CD release after the trio had previously dropped the blistering digital EP Hands Across The Ocean in 2018. “Tom’s always been a big Skids and Big County fan,” explains Bruce. “He’d been writing his own music as well and I thought it might be an interesting collaboration and it was never going to cost money.”

Watson Sr says sending song parts via the internet was the only sensible way to go, given both The Skids’ and Big Country’s hectic schedules last year.

“It was always a pleasant surprise when Tom did something new and I’d get to hear it,” he adds.

“Then Jamie and I would add our guitars on top and send it back to him.”

Full tracks plus demos and bonus tracks are available on the band’s website wkwmusic.com/music

Another kingdom legend with intriguing new work is Rezillos frontwoman Fay Fife, whose breaking outfit The Countess Of Fife have unveiled their debut EP.

The insurgent country four-piece – Fay is joined by Allan McDowall (guitars), Garry Pycroft (bass) and Nora Noonan (drums) – have a studio LP on the way, and as a teaser they’re putting out four live tracks recorded at the MacArts Theatre in Galashiels in November. COF samples are available online at Bandcamp.

East Neuk neo-folk troubadour James Yorkston has added to his extensive oeuvre with Navarasa: Nine Emotions, his third album in four years with jazzer Jon Thorne and sarangi maestro Suhail Yusuf Khan.

The latest LP – clips are available via Deezer – picks up where freewheeling previous offerings Everything Sacred and Neuk Wight Delhi All-Stars left off, fusing the trio’s diverse influences alongside original takes on Burns, Sufi poetry, Dick Gaughan and Amir Khusrow Dehlavi.

Meanwhile, Yorkston’s fellow Fence Collective founder Johnny Lynch has put out his fifth album under his Pictish Trail alter ego, which can be heard in full at Spotify, with clips also available at his pictishtrail.co.uk site.

In Dundee, many of the hottest new sounds are on the city’s Assai Recordings imprint, including a limited edition vinyl pressing of electro popsters Echo Machine’s debut LP Instant Transmissions– a high entry on Scottish and indie shop charts earlier this month.

Comprising Gary Moore (vocals), Mike McFarlane (guitar), Ben Doherty (bass) and Lewis Bage (synths), the Killers soundalikes formed in 2018 from the ashes of alt-rockers The Mirror Trap.

Assai are also behind dream pop exponents St Martiins’ first-ever 12” single, with a scheduled release next month. The disc boasts seven tracks from Katie Lynch and Mark Johnston, and like Echo Machine’s album it’s streamable on Spotify.

Another big offering from Keith and Claire Ingram’s label is a first wax pressing of the 1997 debut album from Swiss Family Orbison, due out next month and available to pre-order from the Union Street shop or online.

Echo Machine.