Leo Fox

Freed By The Knife

LF

The frontman of Edinburgh rockers Hagana has, we presume, missed making music with his alt.rock/grunge bandmates during lockdown. more… “Leo Fox”

Community Swimming Pool

You

Z Tapes

Glasgow-based songwriter Brett McCann is building up a fair body of work – three singles in so many months and this, the follow-up to hazy summery ‘Number One’, sports understated guitar work recalling Vini Reilly and Roddy Frame.

And the song itself similarly has 80s pop feel, like Talk Talk in their pop phase but with multi-layered harmonies adding to the wash of sound. Maybe summer is actually on the way.

Kusht

Savage Curios

bandcamp

“Exotica”, he calls it, and to be fair this five-track EP from the Glasgow-based producer couldn’t be more aptly titled. more… “Kusht”

The Shan

X Flies

Kapital Media

The lead track in this Edinburgh trio’s EP, ‘Grave Love’ is propelled along by a chunky riff more… “The Shan”

Digitalsumo

Turn It On

bandcamp

From Birkenhead via France, this Glasgow-based producer apparently runs a vintage recording studio in the city. more… “Digitalsumo”

Probably Finlay

The Unquiet Grave

2453875 Records DK

Not the cheeriest of subjects perhaps – based on an old folk story about a boy waiting at the grave of his slain young love more… “Probably Finlay”

Dean Owens feat. Joey Burns & John Convertino

The Desert Trilogy, Vol. 1: The Burning Heart

Eel Pie

It will be lead single ‘New Mexico’ which gets the publicity and the plaudits, and to be fair if you team up with Calexico for a lockdown-inspired album that is inevitable.

“Want to go to New Mexico”, Owens intones as the distinctive drum chug and guitar work of Convertino and Burns soundtrack this lament. However, ‘Paul Newman’ is a great 90 seconds of spaghetti theme (‘Clint Eastwood’ surely?) and ‘Riverline’s almost filmic start completely belies the Edinburgh-based songwriter’s stereotypical description as a purveyor of Americana.

The EP is all very much themed around the desert even without the Calexico guys – “burning heart, burning sand?” goes one lyrical line, but ‘Tombstone Rose’ is more classic Owens in sound if not title and lyric – understated and complete, yet totally acoustic. But as part one of a trilogy, one suspects there’s much more to come.