As winter draws in, many on this island will wish they were somewhere warmer – perhaps snapping scenery on a winter sunshine break.
But Graeme McNab has made a permanent move to sunnier shores, now working under the apt monicker Immigrant.
From Glasgow, he was part of the Fence Collective, a set of musicians on Scotland’s east coast spearheaded by King Creosote and James Yorkston.
However, the last time McNab was ‘home’ in the UK was before lockdown. So instead he sates his wanderlust via his art, all his home-recorded albums being accompanied by special artwork including sketches of artists who inspired him like Bob Dylan and Kurt Cobain, as well as a ‘Saltire’ series with Annie Lennox and Shirley Manson among those depicted.
“It’s just something that will hopefully make the special editions a little more unique to own,” he says of his burgeoning mail order business, which also sells via Leeds-based Norman Records and German imprint Oscarson. “Though there are way, way more talented visual artists out there,” he adds, self-effacing as ever. “In this respect, if in nothing else, I don’t have any illusions!”
Now based in Thailand, McNab enjoys the climate, though it does present problems, especially for someone still operating the kind of DIY setup Fence was known for.
“Labouring through guitar takes in 100-degree heat, with windows shut and fan switched off, is more an act of self-torture than one of creative joy,” he jokes.
That is partly the reason for his latest album ‘Catch A Hail Mary’ moving away from the folk-oriented earlier recordings he put out on the Fife-based label almost two decades ago, instead brewing up a mesmerising cocktail of electronic beats and ambient soundscapes.
“I’d recorded five song-based albums,” McNab recalls, “and by the end of that I was all talked out. I didn’t even release the fifth album. I was done.” And while he missed out on memorable appearances by Four Tet and Django Django as Fence diversified the lineups for its annual Homegame festival, McNab’s own musical style developed.
“I’ve been into electronic music from the start and had longed to make some of my own, but was always very blocked around tech,” he confesses.
“I’d see my heroes in the field, like Orbital, bobbing away behind banks of synthesizers, drum machines and computer screens and just think, there’s no way.”
There is another, unexpected aspect which makes retreating completely into solo mode more attractive.
“Having started out in a band, I discovered early doors that where my own songs were concerned, it wasn’t easy to bring in other people’s ideas and interpretations.”
This was, he insists, no reflection on the talent pool of musicians ‘available’ to him – “I am quite particular,” he explains.
“I did have sessions with other musicians when recording the Fence albums, and their parts would often greatly improve what was already there. But there were other times when I’d be thinking, I can’t use this, and that really bothered me.
“To have a talented musician come out and contribute something, at my request, and then not put it on the record, is painful to look back on,” he recalls. “So I’ve been careful to avoid that kind of scenario ever since. The upside with that is you get to figure things out on your own and develop in ways you wouldn’t otherwise.”
But as any bedroom producer will tell you, nowadays making music is simpler.
“From thinking I’d be overwhelmed I ended up with the simplest set-up I’ve ever had… take mics out of the equation and life gets a lot easier!”
‘Catch A Hail Mary’ is available now via the Bandcamp link below or at immigrant-music.com.
This article originally appeared in the Edinburgh News.
Also chief newshound at Jockrock
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